Nine Southwest Louisiana state representatives voted with their parties Tuesday on efforts by the House to overturn 12 of Gov. John Bel  Edwards’ vetoes during their scheduled five-day veto session that lasted only one day. The area’s four Republican senators also voted with their party.

The only measure that was overridden by both the House and the Senate was a ban on youth access to gender-affirming health care, the legislation that was the main reason for holding the rare veto session.

The vote on the bill by Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, was 76-23, six more than the required 70 votes (two-thirds) in the 105-member House. The Senate vote was 28-11, two more than the 26 votes (two-thirds) required in the 39-member upper chamber.

Two of the House’s 71 Republicans were absent from the session, but 7 Democrats voted for the bill. Two Democratic senators voted for the legislation and one Republican was opposed.

Voting to override 12 measures in the House were Republican Reps. Ryan
Bourriaque of Grand Lake, Dewith Carrier of Oakdale, Les Farnum of Sulphur, Brett Geymann of Moss Bluff, Charles Owen of Rosepine, Troy Romero of Jennings, Rodney Schamerhorn of Hornbeck, and Phillip Tarver of Lake Charles. Farnum was recorded as absent on one measure.

Democratic state Rep. Wilford Carter of Lake Charles voted against all 12 attempts to override.

Voting to override the three House measures that made it to the Senate were Republican Sens. Mark Abraham of Lake Charles, Heather Cloud of Turkey Creek, Mike Reese of Leesville, and Jeremy Stine of Lake Charles. The other two House measures failed in the Senate.

The Advocate said the ban on gender-affirming health care that was overridden means that youth experiencing gender dysphoria will have less than six months to legally obtain treatment for their condition.

The ban that becomes effective in January will bar doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, gender-transition surgeries or hormone  treatment to children and teens. Doctors may still offer counseling to those youth, the newspaper said.

One of the House measures that made it to the Senate but failed there dealt with school vaccinations. Edwards in his veto message called it “a covert attempt to undermine the faith of the public in vaccines.”

The other bill restricted ownership of agricultural lands by foreign adversaries. Edwards in his veto message said it was similar to another House bill he signed that prohibits the purchasing or acquisition of immovable property by foreign adversaries, which would include agricultural land.