Charles R. Chaney, known as Bubba Chaney, is a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 19, which includes his home city of Rayville in Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Chaney is one of three children of a Rayville couple, Joseph Edgar Chaney, Jr., and the former Anna Marie "Billie" Brown. His younger brother, Joseph Chaney, III, worked in the health sciences field, including a stint as the administrator of Rayville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rayville. His sister is Constance "Connie" Chaney Gotchert and her husband, Ron, of Benbrook in Tarrant County, Texas. A graduate of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Chaney is the owner and manager of Albert's Men's Wear in Rayville. He is married to the former Sharon Crawford. Chaney won election to his first term in the House in 2007, when he defeated fellow Democrat Anita Mack-Tennant, 8,943 to 3,415. The position opened when the long-term Democratic incumbent Francis C. Thompson of Delhi was term-limited and instead ran successfully for the Louisiana State Senate. On February 7, 2011, Chaney made headlines by vaulting from the Democrats to the Republicans. His switch was notable because it gave the GOP its first majority in the Louisiana House of Representatives since Reconstruction. In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011, Chaney was unopposed for his second term in the House.
Legislative record
Chaney is a former member of the Louisiana House Committee on Education. In 2010, he sponsored legislation to broaden the approval process for textbooks in public schools. This action brought him into opposition from the conservativeLouisiana Family Forum, which Chaney said "absolutely ambushed" him. Chaney's score from the Louisiana Family Forum was 56 percent in 2008 and 78 percent in 2009. As of 2015, he was a member of the House committees on Agriculture, Appropriations, Budget, and Natural Resources and Environment. Chaney's legislative ratings have ranged from 78 to 87 percent from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. In 2012, he was rated 100 percent by the National Federation of Independent Business. In 2013 and 2014, the Louisiana Family Forum, with whom he had disagreed on textbook selection in 2010, scored him 90 percent both years. Louisiana Right to Life has scored him 100 percent for every year that he has been a legislator. In 2013 and 2014, the Louisiana Association of Educators rated him 58 and 67 percent, respectively. In 2014, Chaney co-sponsored the requirement that abortion providers have hospital admitting privileges near their clinics; the bill was approved by the full House, 88-5. That same year, he voted to extend the time for implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. He voted to prohibit the prohibition of the transportation of dogs in the beds of pick-up trucks while traveling on interstate highways; the measure passed the House, 53-34. He voted against the requirement that companies must give notice when they engage in hydraulic fracking. He opposed the repeal of the state anti-sodomy laws. He voted for the establishment of surrogacy contracts. He voted against reducing the penalties for the possession of marijuana. He voted for lifetime concealed carry gun permits and co-sponsored concealed-carry privileges in restaurants that sell alcoholic beverages. He voted against making information about gun permit holders a matter of public record. He voted in 2013 for an increase in judicial pay and supported the removal of the mandatory retirement age for judges. In 2012, Chaney voted against the prohibition of the use of telephones and other hand-held cellular devices while driving. The ban on using phones while driving nevertheless passed the House, 68-29. He voted for tax incentives for attracting a National Basketball Association team to Louisiana and supported state income tax deductions for individuals who contribute to scholarship funds. He voted to reduce the number of hours that polling locations remain open; Louisiana has traditionally had 14-hour polling days. He supported drug testing of certain welfare recipients; the bill passed the House, 65 to 26. He supported changes in the teacher tenure law. In 2011, he voted for parole eligibility for elderly inmates; the measure passed the House, 65-25. He opposed the permanent tax on cigarettes but did not vote regarding the establishment of a commission to develop a plan for ending the state income tax. He supported redistricting plans for the Louisiana State Senate and Louisiana's six seats in the United States House of Representatives. Chaney opposed the anti-bullying measure for public schools; the disputed bill failed, 43 to 54. Chaney ran unopposed in the October 24, 2015, primary election. In March 2016, Chaney joined a House bipartisan majority for a one-cent increase in the state sales tax. State representatives voted 76 to 28 for the tax hike, a part of the revenue-raising measures pushed by new Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A House and Senate conference committee subsequently trimmed the five years for the duration of the tax to expire instead after twenty-seven months, effective from April 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018. Even the sale of Bibles and religious publications and Girl Scout cookies are now subject to the tax. Chaney is term-limited in the October 12, 2019, nonpartisan blanket primary for his House seat. Instead his House predecessor, term-limited state Senator Francis C. Thompson, will seek to succeed Chaney in the House, in which Thompson previously served from 1975 to 2008.
