Taylor Barras

Taylor Francis Barras (born January 1957) is an accountant and banker from New Iberia, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 48, based in Iberia Parish.

A New Iberia native, Barras graduated in 1975 from New Iberia Senior High School. In 1979, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He is market president of Iberia Bank. His wife is the former Cheryl Lopez.^[1]

Elected in 2007 in his first political bid as a Democrat, Barras and Shane Romero led a four-candidate primary field to enter the November 17 general election. Barras led the primary with 5,436 votes (45.3 percent) to Romero's 3,191 (26.6 percent). The two other Democrats in contention, David N. Broussard and Raymond Lewis, shared the remaining 28.5 percent of the vote.^[2] Barras then defeated Romero, 6,690 (62 percent) to 4,091 (38 percent)^[3]

In 2011, Barras became one of several members to switch to GOP affiliation. As a result of several special elections since 2010 and the party defections, Republicans gained a majority of the state House for the first time since Reconstruction. Barras is a candidate for a second term in the nonpartisan blanket primary set for October 22, 2011.^[4]

In his first term, Barras served on these committees: (1) House and Governmental Affairs, (2) Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs, (3) Ways and Means, and (4) Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay.^[5]

In 2010, Representative Barras was rated 100 percent by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, 82 percent by the Louisiana National Federation of Independent Business, and 89 percent by the Louisiana Family Forum. In 2011, Barras voted, unsuccessfully, to override Governor Bobby Jindal's veto of an increase in his state's cigarette tax. He also voted to ban hand-held cellular devices while driving. He voted against a 2011 proposal to establish a commission to study how to end state corporate and personal income taxes over the next decade.^[6]

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