LA Senate tax hike try may hang GOP out to dry

A late session sleight-of-hand stupidly supported by some of the Louisiana Senate’s most conservative members may provide the first test for the House of Representatives’ new Conservative Legislative Caucus.

At the start of Wednesday, HB 514 by Republican state Rep. Tanner Magee applied sales tax to medical marijuana. But when it hit the floor that afternoon, Magee allowed its hijacking by amendment to make permanent the sales tax hike instituted first in 2016 and supposed to expire over two years later, but which in part got extended to 2025. Over the next three years its avails gradually would be diverted to roads construction until by the time it would have expired the entirety would go to that object. It also delays giving back the entirety of a tax on manufacturer use of utilities.

The bill lists several projects that would receive priority, which have appeared as distinct line items in several bills this session, to where three-quarters of the avails should go until these reach completion. This larding of pork appeared to appease several senators, particularly GOP state Sen. Barrow Peacock who was mentioned as a collaborator on the radical change and whose SB 1, stalled in the Senate, would take a much more reasonable approach of diverting the tax increase for roads but with it expiring as intended.

LA Supreme Court expansion wasteful, useless

No constitutional or legal reason exists to justify the waste of taxpayer dollars on the altar of increased employment of elected officials by expanding the size of Louisiana’s Supreme Court.

SB 163 by Republican Sen. Patrick McMath would amend the Constitution, in a vote next year, to increase the size of the state’s Supreme Court from seven to nine members, provide for decennial reapportionment, and create roughly equiproportional districts in population. Changing the size would be comparatively the least radical of the bunch, recent history reveals.

Louisiana hasn’t reapportioned any judicial districts in over two decades. The last time that happened, it came as a consequence of the unwieldy Chisom v. Roemer consent decree, the 1992 case that the resolution of which committed the state to draw a judicial district explicitly on racial lines to produce a majority-black district in the hopes it would elect a black justice. Before the 1997 law that did so, the last redistricting came as a consequence of the new 1974 Constitution. And since then, the Legislature passed on doing so both after 2000 (sticking with the 1997 lines used) and 2010 (despite both House and Senate pledges to do so).

Conservative bloc needs to usher out Schexnayder

For the good of Louisiana, House of Representatives conservative Republicans need to have an intervention with GOP Speaker Clay Schexnayder.

Last week, Schexnayder forced out Education Committee Chairman Ray Garofalo for backing a bill Republicans have passed out of legislative chambers in several states. The bill would prohibit unchallenged instruction or training that deliberately demeans students or trainees on the basis of their immutable characteristics or political views – often protecting racist behavior disguised as anti-racism.

He did this by failing to support Garofalo’s ability to function as committee chairman after complaints from the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, who manufactured outrage by blowing way out of proportion an offhand remark to allege Garofalo’s unfitness to lead. The LLBC has unusual leverage over Schexnayder because he won the speakership with only minority GOP representative support, with the plurality of that support coming from the LLBC, and a threat to withdraw that support means Schexnayder likely would lose his spot and full-time job with its salary.

Preserve fiscal bonus to pay looming LA debts

So, you get handed around nearly $700 million and are told you can spend almost half of it on anything over the next year starting Jul. 1, and the rest you can spend now on capital items and/or defeasance of various obligations. Louisiana has encountered such a bonus, and must act wisely with it to avoid future fiscal catastophe, which runs against type.

Last week’s Revenue Estimating Conference meeting approved fiscal forecasts of a $357 million surplus for this fiscal year and of $320 million for the next. The lagniappe came from better-than-expected, even if relatively weak, revenue collection from very conservative past estimation taking into account the impact of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.

The Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards Administration wants to speak for the sums, but at least doesn’t want to fritter away all of it. As the larger amount can’t go towards recurring items, it recommends adding it to $45 million already apportioned by the House to make an initial $400 million payment on a hurricane and flood protection rebuild and enhancement in the southeastern part of the state. In the aftermath of the hurricane disasters of 2005, the state pledged to pay for 35 percent of the cost of repairing this system that would be interest-free for another year if making a payment of that amount by the end of September.

Local bills to create more responsive govts

Citizens on both sides of the Red River appear on the way to bringing more responsive government, despite opponents to that using misdirection in failed attempts to date to derail legislation.

HB 630 by Republican state Rep. Dodie Horton uncontroversially would update state statutes from the 1950s regarding the Cypress Black Bayou Recreation and Water Conservation District. Much more controversially, it would create a process to remove members of the agency’s governing commission, appointed for five-year terms by local Bossier governments, with the governing authorities of four being directly elected and the other filled with gubernatorial appointees. At present, no removal procedures exist beyond the constitutional impeachment provision, which limits that to malfeasance or gross misconduct.

It also changes filling a vacancy from the remaining commissioners to the appointer. And, it allows commissioners to have one of their own removed for specific causes listed.

LA should pile on rout of intolerant NCAA

Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards and other opponents of SB 156 just struck out.

The bill by Republican state Sen. Beth Mizell would disallow biological males from competing in intercollegiate, interscholastic, and intramural sports in sports designated for females. In essence, unless a biologically-born male has had the obligatory surgery and takes the necessary drugs to be classified as a biological female, the bill would prohibit that person from competing as a female.

Dispensing with arguments over the morality of encouraging healthy but mentally and emotionally immature children from taking life-altering drugs with long-range side effects and to accept mutilation, a talking point opponents use against it deals with politics and economics. For collegiate athletes, they say the National Collegiate Athletics Association may refuse to sponsor its championship tournament events in states that have such laws. They point to NCAA statements that events should occur where “hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination,” as well as a 2016 incident where the organizations yanked tournament games originally set for North Carolina after that state passed a law mandating that in ordinary situations sex-specific restrooms be used only by biological members of that sex.

Reform BC bid practices for better governance

The deed was done. How can Bossier Citians avoid the possibility of wasted taxpayer resources in the future?

This week, the lame-duck Bossier City Council rammed through its controversial no-bid, three-year contract with Manchac Consulting to run water and sewerage operations that will cost $4.6 million, with only no party Councilor Jeff Darby in opposition. While that scaled-down version demonstrated that earlier, more expansive ones would have spent needlessly tax dollars (with an initial five-year term violating city ordinance), citizens still can’t be sure they received the best deal possible because no competitive bidding occurred.

That can be fixed. Section 2-152 of the city’s ordinances states sealed bidding must occur for “services … exceeding the amount established by applicable state law or any lesser amount established by a management directive of the mayor.” State law fixes the threshold to require public works contracts at $250,000 and $30,000 for materials, but none for professional services for political subdivisions, which Sec. 2-151 echoes by only requiring Council resolution to approve of such regardless of amount without any competitive bid requirement.

Bill fate to test futures of governor, speaker

Over the next month, one bill will impact profoundly the careers of a couple of high-profile Louisiana politicians.

That potentially redefining instrument comes in the modest form of Republican state Sen. Beth Mizell’s SB 156. The bill would clarify in scholastic, collegiate, and intramural athletics, that for single-sex sports only students of that biological sex may participate in those, except that females could opt for participation in sports designated for males.

In over half the states such a bill has been introduced, becoming law already in several. Even the least favorable national polling shows more people support measures like this than oppose, with strong support leading strong opposition by double digits. No comparable Louisiana statewide polling on this has occurred, but likely support would be much higher.

Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III, 1943-2021

My employer Louisiana State University Shreveport only recently passed the half-century mark in age. Today, it lost its most famous instructor, Republican former Gov. Buddy Roemer.

Little known is that Roemer taught as an adjunct instructor at LSUS early in its history, in computer science as I recall, before his electoral political career (All the oldest hands from that era at LSUS who could give a few more details, one way or the other, are no longer around here.) For that reason, we could get him to come to campus from time to time.

In the fall of 1993 or spring of 1994 (I can’t quite recall which semester), he stopped by to give a speech largely attended by faculty members and a few students. With me being the political scientist who taught our classes related to elections, when afterwards I introduced myself to him he was interested in having a chat. We drifted down the hallway to my (very small) office where for 15 or 20 minutes we (he, mainly, as was my desire) talked a bit about where he thought Louisiana and American government were headed. I confess I don’t really remember any of the details.

GOP leaders must deliver on sensible bills

Largely out of the headlines, Louisiana’s Republican-led Legislature has made quiet inroads on some do-over legislation that stand a good chance of becoming law – if its GOP leaders get with the program.

Last year in the second special session, the GOP chambers sent bills to create a more accountable and responsive emergency governance regime (in part prompted by a poorly-reasoned but highly-activist court decision on the existing statute defining this) and to prevent election interference through donations by private interests during emergency periods. Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed both.

Fortunately, legislators didn’t give up and two similar bills look likely to reach the desk of Edwards this session, all other things equal. HB 149 by GOP state Rep. Larry Frieman would clarify emergency powers law to ensure even the most activist judge can’t misinterpret the law other than its explicit wording to give each chamber a veto power over gubernatorial assertions of authority in a declared emergency, in whole or part, taking effect when the next governor assumes office. HB 20 by GOP state Rep. Blake Miguez makes for an even tighter regulation of private election conduct donations, removing the language from his previous version limiting it only to those held under emergency conditions.