Notes from the regular legislative session

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A new 2-cent tax would be charged on monthly cell phone bills to help provide assistive technology to people who are deaf, under a measure that received House approval Tuesday in a 73-16 vote.

The bill by Rep. Patrick Williams, D-Shreveport, would rework an existing 5-cent monthly tax on landline phones, lowering the tax but spreading it to cell phones, pagers and Internet phone lines.