That Gov. John Bel Edwards endorsed sham “tax reform” in his
recent special session call becomes all the more apparent when another example surfaced of Louisiana’s subpar fiscal policy.
In the days prior to the session’s launch next week, the state announced Gameloft would close its New Orleans office, reneging on a deal to bring more jobs to the state. This meant it gave away nearly a million dollars over the past seven years to the gaming firm under the Digital Interactive Media and Software Tax Credit, or almost $25,000 per job created. The total amount actually comes close to $2 million, but the state plans on clawing back over half.
Ready or not, the Louisiana spring special session is coming to a Capitol near you.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards will call another special session for the Louisiana legislature, something he said he was not going to do unless there was an agreement between the Republican and Democratic parties.
Tomorrow, Governor John Bel Edwards is expected to call for a Louisiana legislative special session which would begin roughly seven days later, if things go as being reported. Edwards had urged the Republicans to come up with a plan to fix the roughly one billion dollar hole for the year starting July 1, 2018, or no session would be called.
They haven’t. Nonetheless, Edwards is left with little other choice. If they were to wait until after the regular session is complete, in the beginning of June, there would not be sufficient time for parents to plan for tuition, for schools to plan schedules and for hospitals to plan their respective budget which starts weeks later.
Confusion is as confusion does, which sums up perfectly an incomprehensible ruling on an important question in Louisiana governance.
Yesterday, state District Judge Don Johnson issued a ruling declaring a case of a fund sweep unconstitutional. In this instance, the Legislature lifted from Public Service Commission revenues collected by fees on regulated carriers, appropriating some of that amount to pay for other operations of government.
Oped by Stephen Waguespack, President and CEO of Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, LABI
Today, coalition members from local chambers of commerce, civic organizations and business associations across the state came together to announce a campaign to open the books on government spending in Louisiana.
The Louisiana capitol is ready to start its Louisiana Legislature tax chicken dance. On one side of the floor are Governor, John Bel Edwards and democrats. On another side are fiscal conservatives. And, in the middle are a group of lawmakers who believe the state is reaching a moment of urgency.
The question is—who’s going to take the first step and blink as the music is quickly getting ready to start?
Winter is still here. The Louisiana days are getting a little longer. The threat of another special session to plug a massive hole in the budget is getting closer.
The mantra of fiscal cliff still fills the air as it has now winter after winter, year after year.
As of now, what is the shape of the Louisiana political waterfront?
This was the gist of a series of questions I asked political analyst and pollster Bernie Pinsonat during a Facebook and Twitter live video conference we held on Wednesday.
The point isn’t so much that Democrats’ positions continue to deteriorate in Louisiana, or even why, but why Democrats continue to let it happen.
My Advocate colleague Tyler Bridges wrote a piece on how, despite enthusiasm stemming from Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards’ 2015 upset win, indicators keep showing the party’s fortunes declining.