LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Stacey Judice remembers the roar and towering flames of the burning sugar cane just a few feet from her Carencro home.

The sight of burning fields marks the cane harvest season in south Louisiana, but those fires have been the subject of growing complaints as more rural subdivisions sprout amid the farms.

Legislation passed this session sets up a process to make it easier for such complaints to be addressed.

State Sen. Page Cortez, who sponsored the measure, said he was moved to act in part by images he saw of burning cane.

Cortez tells The Advocate the recently passed legislation gives the job hearing and investigating concerns about cane fires to the state commissioner of agriculture and forestry.

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