Changes

==Career==

==Career==

In her freshman legislative year, Representative Stokes was rated 71 percent by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, a type of statewide Chamber of Commerce, but she was scored 97 percent by that group in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/144257/julie-stokes#.WrbwoExFxEY|title=Julie Stokes' Ratings and Endorsement|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=March 24, 2018}}</ref> Stokes serves on the Health & Welfare, Labor & Industrial Relations, and Ways & Means committees. In 2013, she voted to increase the pay of state judges. In 2017, she did not vote on the House-passed measure, which was nevertheless blocked in the state Senate, to forbid the removal of [[Confederacy|Confederate]] monuments from government locations. Stokes co-sponsored the tax increases on [[cigarette]]s in 2016 and voted to hike [[gasoline]] taxes in 2017.<ref name=projectvotesmart>{{cite web|url=https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/144257/julie-stokes#.WrbgaExFxEY|title=Julie Stokes' Voting Records|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=March 24, 2018}}</ref>

 

In her freshman legislative year, Representative Stokes, by then a Republican, was rated 71 percent by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, a type of statewide Chamber of Commerce, but she was scored 97 percent by that group in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/144257/julie-stokes#.WrbwoExFxEY|title=Julie Stokes' Ratings and Endorsement|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=March 24, 2018}}</ref> Stokes serves on the Health & Welfare, Labor & Industrial Relations, and Ways & Means committees. In 2013, she voted to increase the pay of state judges. In 2017, she did not vote on the House-passed measure, which was nevertheless blocked in the state Senate, to forbid the removal of [[Confederacy|Confederate]] monuments from government locations. Stokes co-sponsored the tax increases on [[cigarette]]s in 2016 and voted to hike [[gasoline]] taxes in 2017.<ref name=projectvotesmart>{{cite web|url=https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/144257/julie-stokes#.WrbgaExFxEY|title=Julie Stokes' Voting Records|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=March 24, 2018}}</ref>

Stokes is affiliated with the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, the University of New Orleans Alumni Association, and the Society of Louisiana CPAs. She sat on the Kenner 2030 Economic Development Committee. She chairs the Sales Tax Streamlining & Modernization Commission, which seeks to reform the state’s  [[sales tax]] system. ''State Tax Notes'' recognized her nationally as one of a handful of state “Tax Legislators of the Year” because of her work on sales tax reform.<ref name=honors/>   

Stokes is affiliated with the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, the University of New Orleans Alumni Association, and the Society of Louisiana CPAs. She sat on the Kenner 2030 Economic Development Committee. She chairs the Sales Tax Streamlining & Modernization Commission, which seeks to reform the state’s  [[sales tax]] system. ''State Tax Notes'' recognized her nationally as one of a handful of state “Tax Legislators of the Year” because of her work on sales tax reform.<ref name=honors/>