Author: manshipxgr

Tryfon Boukouvidis

After several contentious days, the House on Monday passed a Republican bill 76-28 to partially address the impending fiscal cliff when temporary revenue measures expire this summer.

The bill broke a logjam in the House, which could not agree on any revenue measures in March and marked a significant step toward solving some of the state’s budget problems.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which could adjust it to raise more revenue to ease possible cuts in health care and higher education.

The House bill, authored by Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, the leader of the Legislature’s Republican delegation, would temporarily extend one-third of a penny of state sales tax. That would raise $369 million in revenue next year, and the third of a penny, which would make the state sales tax. 4.33 percent, would remain in effect through 2023.

Read the story in The Franklin Sun.

Tryfon Boukouvidis and Paul Braun

The House failed to pass a Republican bill on Friday that would have raised a third less money than what Gov. John Bel Edwards is seeking to deal with a projected budget shortfall.

The bill, written by Rep. Lance Harris of Alexandria, who heads the Legislature’s Republican delegation, needed 70 votes to pass, but received only 64, with 38 against it.

The House plans to return on Monday afternoon to try again to pass a bill that would start consideration of possible tax measures in the special session that runs through June 4. The Senate, which is thought to favor a bill that would raise more revenue, cannot act until the House passes a bill.

The failure of the proposal on Friday was reminiscent of the House’s inability to pass any kind of tax bill in a special session that collapsed earlier this year. But Friday’s bill came closer to passage than any of the earlier bills, and House leaders will see if it is possible to make changes that would attract more votes.

Read the story in KALB.

Drew White

After a heated debate over priorities given the state budget shortfall, a House committee on Friday decided to keep the cap on credits for movies, TV shows and commercials shot in the state at $180 million a year rather than cutting it to $90 million.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted 8-4 to maintain the current subsidy even though some legislators suggested that the money should be used instead to stave off possible cuts in vital public services.

The state-subsidized credits incentivize production companies to film in Louisiana, once deemed “Hollywood South.” But the Legislature also is trying to solve an estimated $648 million “fiscal cliff,” and it is not clear if it will approve enough revenue measures to avoid the cuts.

“I think health care and education should be prioritized over Popeye’s commercials,” argued the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice.

Read the story in The Natchitoches Times.

Kaylee Poche and Tryfon Boukouvidis

The House Ways and Means Committee voted 11-6 Thursday to advance a Republican bill that would raise $369 million in additional revenue next year ­— $279 million less than state officials say they would need to cover a projected budget shortfall.

The bill, written by Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, would extend one-third of the penny of sales tax that is set to expire this summer and include budget cuts to reduce the size of state government.

Harris, the chairman of the Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation, argued that the budget gap is likely to be about $495 million and that state agencies would face only a 1.3 percent cut in funding on average.

But the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference projects that the shortfall will be $648 million, and Jay Dardenne, a top official in Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration, said Harris’ bill would require much more “dramatic reductions” in higher education and state health services than Harris acknowledged.

Read the story in The Minden Press-Herald.

Drew White

Joby Richard

The Republican push for more state spending transparency is back.

The Senate Finance Committee advanced a bill Wednesday to expand a state website to include spending by the judiciary, the Legislature and public universities along with the current data from agencies in the executive branch.

And in the House, Speaker Taylor Barras refiled his bill to create a new website called the Louisiana Checkbook modeled on a more highly ranked site in Ohio.

Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, proposed the bill that the Senate committee sent to the floor without objection.

Read the story in The Daily Comet.

Kaylee Poche

Members of the House Ways and Means Committee were notably frustrated when they met Wednesday to begin the special session’s budget discussions, a conversation they have been having in some form for over two years.

However, not all of the 18 members were frustrated for the same reason, and the meeting quickly turned into an airing of grievances, some with Gov. John Bel Edwards and others with their own colleagues.

Several of the 11 Republicans on the committee, which must initiate tax and budget bills, told Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne they were upset that Edwards vetoed the budget passed by the Legislature that dealt with a $648 million shortfall solely through budget cuts.

While that budget would have fully funded health care priorities, it would have decimated state agencies with 24 percent cuts across the board, slashed TOPS scholarships by 30 percent and left Louisiana as the only state without a food stamp program.

Read the story in Gambit Weekly.

Drew White and Paul Braun

Some members of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus stated their willingness to accept a half-cent increase in the state sales tax proposed Tuesday by Gov. John Bel Edwards, increasing the chance for a compromise with Republicans in a second special session.

Caucus members also said in interviews that they supported other revenue-raising measures that Edwards unveiled Tuesday as the Legislature began a second special session to try to resolve a projected $648 million shortfall in the state budget.

Caucus members were opposed earlier this year to retaining any part of the extra penny of sales tax that expires this summer, and their demands to restructure state income tax brackets or eliminate some itemized deductions for wealthier state residents helped to lead to the collapse of the first special session in March.

Read the story in WWL-TV.

 

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.

Kaylee Poche and Devon Sanders

Two bills targeting sexual exploitation passed the Louisiana Legislature Friday.

One would set policies for employers to detect victims of human trafficking, and the other would increase penalties for crimes involving prostitution.

Rep. Julie Stokes, R-Kenner, sponsored House Bill 830 that would relate to the trafficking victims, including employees of sexually oriented businesses like stores selling sexual materials and businesses with live sexual performances.

The businesses would have to verify age and employment status of current and prospective employees and keep those records for three years. They also would need to have potential employees fill out questionnaires aimed at detecting victims of human trafficking.

Read the full story in The Advocate.