Louisiana may become the first state in the US to add public safety personnel as a protected class under hate crime laws reported Elahe Izadi in the Washington Post.
Louisiana House Bill 953 was passed unanimously by the House, and the state Senate passed the bill it 33 to 3. The bill now goes to Governor John Bel Edwards, who is expected to sign the bill into law as early as this month.
Currently at least 37 states enforce penalties for assaulting police officers.
A similar bill has been proposed in the US Congress that would alter federal hate-crime laws to include law enforcement officers as a protected class.
