House rejects bill to extend half-cent sales tax

Drew White and Tryfon Boukouvidis

The House on Thursday rejected a bill that would have extended a half-cent of sales tax that Gov. John Bel Edwards has said is needed to avoid significant budget cuts.

The vote was 60-40 in favor of the bill, but it needed a two-thirds majority, or 70 votes, to pass. Thirty-seven Democrats, 20 Republicans and three independents voted for the bill, and 38 Republicans and two Democrats voted against it.

Minutes before the House adjourned Thursday evening, House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, made a desperate plea to both Republicans and Democrats to reach a compromise Friday.

“I don’t think it’s any secret to anyone in the building that we are in extreme deadlock between four tenths of a penny and half of a penny,” he said.

Read the story in The News Star.