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So legislators think Gov. Bobby Jindal will provide minimal direction this session as the state faces budgetary difficulty. That’s all right, I’ll take up the slack.

Jindal presented a budget as by the Constitution, but it met with criticism in certain areas, some portion of it rightly so. The biggest of these were that it cut funding for higher education $221 million and for health care $150 million even as rolling back tax credit rebates were to bring in $526 million, although $377 million of that came in the form of the inventory tax credit would cause in the aggregate businesses’ tax to rise by that amount, because the tax is levied at the local level which the state could not change. To reduce the hit to higher education perhaps by half, the Jindal Administration suggested a convoluted plan to raise cigarette taxes, to increase college fees, then to pass through the proceeds of the tax to offset the fee. Jindal has said he will veto any tax increase that does not have an offset elsewhere. Also of some concern is that the partner entities operating the state charity hospitals want additional funding to continue providing services above and beyond their contractual obligations, estimated at $142 million.

What is presented here uses the executive budget as a baseline, as much of it presents a good framework. It then reshapes it so some degree, taking bills already introduced and some data associated with them, trying to address the valid concerns about workability and desirability of the policy options attached to it. Just as the present budget requires a slew of legal changes that eliminate the tax credit refunds, some also will be needed under this plan.

Girls in tuxedos sought in schools, not religious belief

You may be forgiven for wondering whether the world has turned upside down upon learning in north Louisiana schools it seems more important that girls wear tuxedos at proms than supporting school leaders who give witness to values that build character and respect the dignity of all people.

In Monroe, controversy ensued when several Carroll High School girls were told they couldn’t attend prom in that traditionally male attire. Jurisprudence is that schools have wide latitude in placing restrictions on free expression, in that these are reasonable if connected to the educational mission of the school. Certainly disruption of something such as a sponsored school event qualifies, given the hostility that could ensue from attendees interpreting this attire as a symbol of behavior they see offensive that they are forced to condone, and that many school teachers that would chaperone the event reputedly said they would not do so if that were allowed to happen. This got up the dander of at least one pro-homosexual interest group that called the refusal “harmful” and would “censor” the aggrieved girls’ “core identity.”

But children are children and even at that age many engage in more than enough buffoonery, including cross-dressing at formal functions in order, if nothing else, to assert their independence and to inject a little levity onto that experience in their lives, which within a relatively short time will seem to all but a handful insignificant. That the district has allowed this at other times, without riots breaking out even if previous tuxedoed lasses may have desired to signal that they prefer to behave homosexually, undercut any argument that the event would end badly. The Monroe City School District properly will allow girls to appear dressed as penguins at the soiree.

Jindal past, present, future on display in swan song

Perhaps a little less valedictory but mostly predictably, Gov. Bobby Jindal gave his swan song State of the State address to open the 2015 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, determined to go out in his own way, in his own time, both putting a period on his attempted transformation of the state and starting a new chapter outside of it.

Of his eight such speeches, it was among the most compact, and certainly the most thematic, bringing out three major items tied by their impact on his legacy and how that will become interpreted in the future. After a review of the past that mentioned genuine accomplishments in the areas of ethics reform, expanding choice that lead to improvement in education, streamlining and improving government’s role in healthcare delivery for the indigent, and in overseeing general economic growth statewide with the implications that right-sizing government and holding the line of taxes did the trick, he promised resolution of a creaky budget by asking for repeal of and heaping blame onto “corporate welfare,” to eject the Common Core State Standards Initiative from the state, and to support the effort to protect constitutionally-guaranteed religious freedom by prohibiting state coercion that would force service providers to support behavior relative to marriage that they see as immoral.

The first of these Jindal and all other policy-makers have known for months would be forced upon them, but, even as his no tax increase pledge remained familiar, novel to his response was the identification of “wasteful spending” by government courtesy of programs to give generous tax breaks beyond tax liability. He essentially said nothing about this in the previous seven years, leading astute observers to wonder whether past omission of excising these, as he indicated was his preferred solution to ensure adequate funding to government this year, came from an oversight on his part. Many of these were as wasteful then as they are now, and if this now is a big deal, why not then? This comes across more as a defensive measure to avoid an unpleasantry than anything else.

Kennedy's choice mostly sets statewide office races

And so it seems, with one exception, the decision of Louisiana’s Republican Treasurer John Kennedy to seek reelection has set the lineups for this fall’s state executive office contests, resulting in three competitive races and maybe adding intrigue to a potential future one.

Kennedy’s choice means the gubernatorial field, a spot for which he considered running, is close to being final as far as meaningful candidates go. Of them, Republican Sen. David Vitter gained the most with Kennedy’s deferral, as both have a populist appeal to the electorate, and solidifies his status as favorite. Still, this field could change if Democrats split among themselves and put up another candidate other than state Rep. John Bel Edwards. Especially if a quality black candidate were to enter it, this would likely assure a general election runoff of Vitter with either Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne or Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, both Republicans, thereby decreasing Vitter’s chances of victory. It all depends upon whether Democrats want to hang onto the slim chance that Edwards could prevail in the runoff that he has a great chance of making if the only quality Democrat in the contest, or if they want to throw in the towel and have the chance to pick from among the least objectionable (to them) of Republican candidates in a runoff.

Additionally, the decision by Kennedy basically settled the attorney general competitors, the other office he considered, with only incumbent Atty. Gen. Buddy Caldwell and former Rep. Jeff Landry so far as quality candidates, to both of the Republicans’ relief. Kennedy probably would have made a runoff with one of them and might have been the favorite in that against either. With no sign of a competitive Democrat probable to enter the fray, this configuration lends itself to a tossup at this time, with the majority of Republicans pulling for Landry and Democrats having to settle for their former co-partisan Caldwell.

Don't introduce more irrationality into capital outlay

Following up on the previous post, irrational tax policy that plagues Louisiana concerns not just items related to its operating budget, but also, if a pair of legislators have their way, to the capital outlay budget as well.

Among several bills that would address the illogical taxation of inventory – local governments may treat it as property for this purpose, firms pay it but then file from the state for a rebate of it if any beyond their corporate and franchise tax liabilities – state Sen. Robert Adley’s SB 85 does the best job by not only getting rid of it but also in preventing local governments from raising artificially their assessments to cover the difference. But he only exacerbates the problem he seeks to resolve in that one by signing on to state Rep. Karen St. Germain’s HB 712 that would raise taxes statewide on fuel purchased at retail.

This adds four cents per gallon sold to the 16 already charged as the base rate and the extra four charged to pay off special transportation projects begun over a quarter of a century ago, with some still not completed and paid off for another three decades. This 20 percent hike would go to the Parish Transportation Fund, which apportions out money to parishes for transportation projects they undertake by a formula based upon population.

Political courage needed to fix irrational tax structure

Part of the reason why Louisiana’s fiscal situation has gotten to this point of relative revenue penury is incoherent taxation policy between state and local governments. There are ways to improve that, but you wouldn’t know that listening to some policy-makers.

As things stand, what to do with the inventory tax rebate promises to generate the most discussion at the Legislature’s regular session starting next week. The Gov. Bobby Jindal Administration has made this the revenue-generating centerpiece of its proposed budget. Local governments may levy the tax but for nearly a quarter century the state has rebated that back to businesses, after first covering corporate income and franchise tax liability.

In essence, this means that parishes with a high concentration of industries in manufacturing and vehicle retail have the impunity to raise property taxes all they want because state taxpayers cover it, allowing them to keep bigger government as they already charge above-average property and sales tax rates. Thus, state taxpayers subsidize spending by local government. So it’s no accident that politicians in these parishes, both those of parish governments and their subgovernments and of school districts with coterminous boundaries, express opposition to ending the rebate or, worse to them, ending the ability for local governments, as is the case in most states, to impose inventory taxation at all.

Jindal's CCSSI gambit continues on test funds issue

The politics over Common Core States Standards Initiative high-stakes testing got more high stakes as a Louisiana Legislature panel reviewed non-higher education spending prior to the start of this year’s regular session. Yet the highest stakes of all from this may appear in the national political arena.

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee heard testimony regarding the education budget, minus higher education, much of it featuring Superintendent John White. He argued that the reduction in money given the administrative activities from the general fund, which Gov. Bobby Jindal recommended going from $48 million to $25 million, would prevent the Department of Education from administering standard testing as required by state law. He said with an extra $10 million boost he could manage to contract for the tests, aligned with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

White believes the nearly-halved general fund allotment continues an attempt by Jindal to prevent the state from administering the PARCC tests – the budget identifies a reduction of $13.9 million in professional services – and with good reason as the governor went to court to try to negate the current contract. That has yet to succeed, and less than a year ago Jindal had not expressed opposition to CCSSI but then turned against it, saying his thinking had evolved on the matter that made it appear to him that use of the PARCC tests promoted too much imposition of national standards dictated by Washington.

Bill protecting religious belief merits becoming LA law

HB 707 importantly protects religious freedom in Louisiana and deserves swift passage, in spite of the mindless demagoguery already regurgitating against it.

The bill, by state Rep. Mike Johnson, would prevent the state from taking punitive actions against individuals and non-public corporations in the conduct of business who refused to engage in commerce where that action would violate their religious beliefs on the subject of marriage. It most significantly differs from other states’ recent efforts in that it limits conscientious objection only to beliefs regarding marriage and applies only to state government actions.

Practically speaking, using the hackneyed but real-world example of as bakery asked to supply a cake to celebrate a marriage between two people of the same sex, if this becomes law then legally a baker could refuse to engage in that commerce by declaring his participation would create tacit consent to an arrangement his religious beliefs about marriage find morally repugnant. This would occur regardless whether such marriages have legal recognition in the state.

Letting higher education out of TRSL makes sense

The time has come for the idea behind SB 18, which would expand the direction in which Louisiana higher education already has headed on retirement matters that both would serve in general its employees better and improve its financial position without harming any others’.

The bill, by state Sen. Robert Adley, would allow any or all of the four higher education systems plus employees of the overseeing Board of Regents to pull out of the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana after paying off its portions of TRSL’s voluminous unfunded accrued liability. This could be accomplished by issuing revenue bonds that pay the amount in full, leaving the elector agency to make periodic payments on those to debt holders.

The advantage of this arrangement comes if the periodic payment amounts are less than the extra amount the elector pays in now and in the future to offset the UAL, which constitutionally must be extinguished by 2029. Because TRSL is on the hook for nearly $12 billion while its total assets (as of the end of fiscal year 2014), agencies part of it currently pay a staggering amount to address the UAL each year. Typically, the employer would match the employees’ paid in, but, because of the UAL, last year employers contributed over $750 million more into TRSL, a 10:3 ratio instead of 1:1. For higher education, the amount may be even more severe; Louisiana State University Baton Rouge had 83 percent of its employer contributions go to paying down the UAL.

Easter Sunday, 2015

This column publishes every Sunday through Thursday around noon U.S. Central Time (maybe even after sundown on busy days, or maybe before noon if things work out, or even sometimes on the weekend if there's big news) except whenever a significant national holiday falls on the Monday through Friday associated with the otherwise-usual publication on the previous day (unless it is Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day, Christmas, or New Year's Day when it is the day on which the holiday is observed by the U.S. government). In my opinion, in addition to these are also Easter Sunday, Memorial Day and Veterans' Day.

This Easter Sunday, I invite you to explore this link.