David Heitmeier

David Richard Heitmeier (born November 1961)^[1] is an optometrist from his native New Orleans, Louisiana, who is a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 7 in Orleans Parish. First elected in 2007, he was eligible to seek a third term in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015, but he instead declined to run again.

Background

Heitmeier was born in the Algiers neighborhood, where he still resides. He has two daughters, Leah and Meghan. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1984 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana. In 1987, he completed the optometry program at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Heitmeier is a volunteer for the Special Olympics and has been affiliated with Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana, Inc.^[2]

Political life

In the 2007 primary to choose a successor to his brother, the term-limited Senator Francis C. Heitmeier, David Heitmeier nearly won the position outright. He led with 11,010 votes (49.4 percent), just short of the required 50 percent plus one vote. Republican Paul Gerard Richard (born June 1957) followed with 6,904 votes (30.9 percent). The remaining 4,398 ballots (19.7 percent) went to a second Democrat, Jonathan C. Bolar.^[3] In the second round of balloting with a lower turnout on November 17, Heitmeier easily prevailed over Richard, 9,496 (62.7 percent) to 5,652 (37.3 percent).^[4] He was unopposed for his second term in 2011.

Senator Heitmeier maintains a heavy Senate committee load: (1) Health and Welfare (chairman), (2) Environmental Quality, (3) Joint Capital Outlay, (4) Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, (5) Select Coastal Restoration and Flood Control, (6) Select Hurricane Recovery Committee, (7) Select Veterans Affairs, and (8) Transportation, Highways and Public Works.^[2]

Heitmeier has scored from 90 to 100 percent from Louisiana Right to Life except in 2013, when he was rated 33 percent. In 2013 and 2014, he was rated from 50 to 86 percent by the conservative Louisiana Family Forum. Heitmeier has ranked from 28 to 82 percent from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and 50 to 80 percent from the National Federation of Independent Business. He is ranked 58 percent by the Louisiana Association of Educators.^[5]

In 2014, Heitmeier voted to require abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges near their clinics. He voted to extend the timeline for the Common Core State Standards Initiative and supported the proposal to forbid the transportation of dogs in the beds of pick-up trucks on interstate highwayss. In 2013, he voted to reduce penalties for the possession of marijuana and to increase judicial pay. In 2012, he voted for tax incentives to recruit a National Basketball Association team to Louisiana. He voted to impose term limits on school board members.^[6]

In 2014, Governor Bobby Jindal signed legislation to permit Francis Heitmeier to lobby the legislature even though Heitmeier's brother, David, is a sitting senator. The special exemption was authored by State Representative Jeff Arnold of the Algiers section of New Orleans and approved by both legislative chambers. It permits an immediate family member of an elected official who was a lobbyist for the executive branch for one year prior to January 9, 2012 to be able to lobby the legislature as well. David Heitmeier abstained from voting on the bill.^[7]

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