Teacher unions stall needed reforms; House props up gas prices

(UPDATE: HB 763 went to the floor Wednesday. Rep. William Daniel tried to amend out the most objectionable language to create a floor price. Daniel said he even went to the lowest-cost price in the state and told everybody there they were paying too little. Several others argued this bill and the bad Unfair Sales Act of 1940 would prevent, in the word’s of one, “Wal-Mart from becoming the next Standard Oil.” [I’ll say it again, it’s no wonder we have the fiscal problems in this state with such idiotic thinking.]

The bill author’s, Rep. Taylor Townsend, kept making the asinine remark that to increase competition, government had to involve itself. He seems totally ignorant of the fact that government intervention itself, especially in this issue, is what decreases competition.

This amendment failed, but one of Daniel’s which would have eased the regulatory burden imposed by the bill, succeeded. This made the whole thing slightly more palatable, the only other good thing being it removed authority to enforce it from the Secretary of Agriculture.

The House passed the bill 99-4. It’s better than doing nothing, but hopefully the Senate will do the right thing and amend it to gut the entire 1940 Act.)

Once again, teachers’ unions in this state showed they exist not to help with the education of our children, but to line their members’ pockets with as much of the people’s money as possible regardless of the long-term consequences to the state.

State Sen. Walter Boasso had to yank SB 7 because of pressure put on by these people. Apparently, he got the word from the Blanco Administration that the votes weren’t there in the Senate. The handwriting on the wall appeared when his companion SB 305 couldn’t muster the 20 (or is it 19?) votes necessary to pass. This bill would have not addressed the financial problems of the funds, just its structure, but it drew only 18 votes.

Boasso intends to bring SB 305 up again because four senators were absent, including two Republicans who might vote for it. And the financial reform still has a chance because Rep. Pete Schneider’s HB 311 does largely what Boasso’s does and it remains alive. Together, the two can accomplish essentially what SB 7 set out to do.

One can only hope that the Legislature listens to the people on these bills and not money-grubbing union thugs who have done nothing to improve education in Louisiana.