By Ed Anderson @ Times-Picayune

BATON ROUGE — House members Friday began the months-long process of filing the proposals that could become new laws, including one by a New Orleans legislator that would allow individuals on probation or parole to pay their fees with credit or debit cards.

House Clerk Alfred “Butch” Speer said the first seven bills — House Bills 4 through 10 — were filed late Friday. The first three bill numbers are reserved for legislation dealing with the state’s operating and capital construction budgets, but they will not be filed for months.

The session opens at noon March 29 and must end June 21 by 6 p.m. The deadline to file bills in advance of the session is March 19. After that, legislators can file no more than five bills each before April 20 at 6 p.m.