Gov. Edwards vetoes bill to keep people 25 feet away from cops on duty

By Claire Sullivan
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have made it a misdemeanor crime to get within 25 feet of police officers on the job who tell them to get back.

Civil rights groups raised concerns about House Bill 85 by state Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Pineville, when it was making its way through the Legislature. They pointed out eyewitness recordings of police brutality are sometimes the only evidence of wrongdoing.

Johnson framed his bill as a police safety measure and said people could still record officers, but the governor rejected that in his letter to House Speaker Clay Schexnayder explaining his veto.

“The effect of this bill were it to become law would be to chill exercise of First Amendment rights and prevent bystanders from observing and recording police action,” Edwards said. “Each of us has a constitutional right to freely observe public servants as they function in public and within the course and scope of their official duties.”

Edwards said “observations of law enforcement…are invaluable in promoting transparency.”

The ACLU of Louisiana praised the governor’s veto in a statement, calling the bill “unconstitutionally vague in conveying when and how police could enforce the law, and how the public could avoid breaking the law.”

This point over how citizens would understand the legally-required distance came up during debate in the legislative session.

“Nobody knows what 25 feet is,” Meghan Garvey, president of the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said at a hearing in May. She recalled people pacing around the Capitol and using their phones to try to figure out the distance — with no luck.

But beyond the civil rights concerns, Edwards said he also vetoed the bill because he felt it was unnecessary.

He pointed out Louisiana already has a law on the books that makes it illegal to intentionally interfere with an officer investigating the scene of a crime or accident or refusing to move from an area when asked to by a police officer.

Johnson’s bill passed through the Senate 29-10 and the House 67-32. It would have fined violators $500, sentenced them to up to 60 days in jail or both.

This article originally published in the July 3, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.