Landry veto encourages genuine Catholic action

As previously noted, while Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s line item vetoes reflected generally fiscal probity while signaling even more emphasis on that in the future, he also made a statement about unwarranted political activism within Louisiana’s Roman Catholic Church’s bureaucracy.

Landry’s vetoes in three appropriations bills followed a general guideline he included in accompanying messages: that gifts of state money had to fulfill state purposes. In some instances, projects he zeroed out were too narrow geographically or too disconnected from state priorities, while others didn’t provide information to determine that.

Not that he didn’t manage to use the power simultaneously to pull political benefits from frequent opponents. The best example of that came from the axed $250,000 from The First 72+, a charitable organization backed by several prominent election officials that seeks to aid the recently incarcerated. According to its Internal Revenue Service Form 990 from 2022, that would have exceeded the entire contribution from government grants, and represents around 15 percent of its revenues. But no request ever was filed, as by Legislature rules, so that made it easy for Landry to vacate.

Landry delivers warning on dubious line items

On a small scale with appropriations bills, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry gave warning he was going to party like it was 2008.

This week, Landry revealed his line item vetoes of HB 1, HB 2, and HB 782 – the general, capital outlay, and supplemental appropriations bills, respectively. The governor has the power to excise individual items in each, which historically never have been overridden.

He didn’t pare much. HB 1 lost four items worth $2.125 million, HB 2 had three items lopped off worth $1.75 million (although one item was a bureaucratic direction), and HB 782 saw 16 items off into the ether worth around $3.5 million.

Vax hesitancy, media mistrust related in public

The same reason why Louisianans appear to be a bit more skeptical about vaccinations generally is behind why Americans have fallen to just about record lows in trust of the media – with a perfect example recently teed up by the state’s largest newspaper.

Last week, the Baton Rouge Advocate ran a piece with scare headline “Anti-vaccine movement gains steam with Louisiana politicians. Here's why doctors are concerned.” It contended that “An unprecedented number of bills and resolutions aimed at weakening vaccine requirements are now law in Louisiana following a wave of successful legislation taking aim at public health authorities.” Hold on to your hernia belts, as “The anti-vaccine movement … is becoming more mainstream in the Louisiana statehouse, causing concern among doctors and public health officials who worry it is eroding decades of health policy and will result in more disease and death.”

Of concern, the article offers, is the drop in kindergarten vaccination rates from 90 to 86 percent, and similar drops in other age groups. The absolute number is small, but it’s contended even a little erosion can be risky to allow a breakout of disease. Charles Stoecker, a Tulane health economist, laments that if there comes something like this, “we'll have only ourselves to blame.” Dr. Mark Kline, physician in chief at Children's Hospital New Orleans said alleged “dismantling” of vaccine policies runs “counter to everything we know about the legitimate practice of public health. It jeopardizes all of our safety, and particularly the safety of people who have medical conditions that make them vulnerable to these diseases.”

Move now to fix LA fiscal policy, next budget

With a constitutional convention apparently off the table for the immediate future, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry appointee Department of Revenue Sec. Richard Nelson has a difficult task to lead in steering state fiscal policy away from deficit shoals.

The convention would have proposed transferring some revenue and spending imperatives out of the Constitution so that the Legislature in 2025 would have had more flexibility in dealing with the disappearance of a temporary 0.45 percent sales tax first imposed in 2016, as well as a 2 percent tax on business utilities purchases for fiscal year 2025. Only the political far left – ironically as it alleges to support lower income households yet sales taxes disproportionately hit those individuals – is advocating keeping the sales tax.

The sales tax generates about $455 million annually, the utilities tax generates about $211 million, and the estimated state budget shortfall without this revenue is $558 million for FY 2025. Landry and Nelson now hope to have a special session of the Legislature meet late this or early next year to tackle the expiration, after legislator fatigue of two special and a longer regular session this year that turned sentiment against a special session acting as a convention this summer.