New Orleans Rep Delisha Boyd (D)
Governor Jeff Landry vetoed a bill that would have given his office the ability to pardon certain first-time convicted marijuana possession offenders without the recommendation of the pardon board. New Orleans Representative Delisha Boyd said the veto letter explanation that her bill wasn’t tough on crime doesn’t make sense.
“It means people have been sentenced, have already served time, or in the midst of serving time so I don’t know how that’s soft on crime. It wasn’t to prevent the arrests it was to possibly just give people a second chance,” said Boyd.
Landry’s veto letter said the bill is an attempt to have the state accept President Biden’s invitation to join his soft-on-crime, no-consequences-for-criminals agenda.
Boyd said she’s disappointed because the intent of the bill was not to prevent people from being arrested…
“It was just an attempt to get those who had one offense only a second chance on being a part of society and functioning and adding and contributing to our economy,” said Boyd.
The bill which received bipartisan support, Boyd said was an attempt to give individuals a second chance so they would have a fair opportunity at things like employment and housing that require a criminal background check.
“It was first-time offenders only, this was a time where people could have gotten a chance to go back to school possibly, without a criminal background check stopping that,” said Boyd.
First-time offenders found with less than 14 grams of marijuana would have been eligible under House Bill 391.
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