Gov. Edwards appeals for public support in budget process as special session begins

Devon Sanders and Kaylee Poche

Gov. John Bel Edwards appealed directly to the public in a speech in Lafayette today for help in passing his plan to solve the state’s $648 budget shortfall.

The governor has proposed a half-cent sales tax, the reduction of some tax exemptions for businesses and the elimination of a provision that lets individuals deduct state income taxes in one year from the next year’s returns.

Edwards spoke at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette three hours before the Legislature began its sixth special session in the last three years to try solve the state’s budget problems.

“My hope is that we can shake the divisive partisanship that’s begun to take root, put aside our differences and put in place the solutions the people of Louisiana deserve,” Edwards said. “Now is the time to be Louisianans first and foremost.”

Read the story in Gambit Weekly.