Kaylee Poche and Devon Sanders
Emotions were raw Monday night as the special session collapsed after the the Legislature was unable to raise major revenue to fund the state’s budget priorities.
In the final minutes of the session, an attempt to reconsider a bill that would have increased revenue by $504 million was blocked by Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, who acknowledged that he stayed at the microphone to use up the remaining time allotted for the session.
Democrats and several Republicans blamed the collapse on both Seabaugh for running out the clock in the final moments and Lance Harris, R-Alexandria and the chairman of the Republican Legislative Delegation, for holding onto his bill that would have raised less revenue until the final half hour, essentially leaving no time to reconsider the other revenue bill.
“We saw the leader of the Republican delegation purposefully held the bill all night,” Rep.Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, said in an interview. “We had another Republican member that denied us the opportunity to vote.”
Read the story in The Natchitoches Times.
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