LobbyComply Blog

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards told state lawmakers this week he intends to call a special session of the Legislature in mid-February to address the state’s budget crisis.

Gov. Edwards set a January 19 deadline for a tax deal to be reached to help balance the budget, and will not call the special session if he does not think the issues will be resolved.

Temporary state sales taxes totaling $1 billion expire next July, and Gov. Edwards hopes a package of sales and income tax proposals can offset the impending deficit.

Tax bills cannot be considered during Louisiana’s regular sessions but require the Governor to call a special session for consideration.

If the session is called in February, it will be the sixth special session since Gov. Edwards took office in 2016.

A special election has been set for February 17, 2018, to replace Louisiana lawmaker Chris Broadwater.

Broadwater, a republican representative from the 86^th district, submitted a letter of resignation this week to focus on spending time with his family.

His resignation will be effective March 1 unless a successor is chosen before that date.

If necessary, a runoff election to fill the seat will be held on March 24, 2018.

In Louisiana, a pair of legislators and members of the Board of Ethics are leading an advisory committee to review and revise the state’s ethics laws.

The overarching goal is not to tighten requirements, but to address clarity and the ease of ethics reporting. On the list of things to be considered for revision are lobbyist reporting which is now done monthly but could be reduced to quarterly, and rules about accepting and reporting sponsored travel and gifts.

Gov. Bobby Jindal overhauled Louisiana’s ethics laws a decade ago, but the sentiment among lawmakers is that those changes were made not to promote transparency and enforcement, but rather to rate high on an ethics ranking system.

The advisory committee plans to make recommendations to the Legislature ahead of the 2018 regular session scheduled to convene in March.

A special election for the Louisiana State Treasurer is set for October 14, 2017. Former treasurer John Kennedy vacated the position when he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016.

The race to fill the seat marks the first time the treasurer’s office has not had an incumbent running since Kennedy was elected 17 years ago.

Five contenders filed this week when the candidate registration period opened. The special election is creating an unforeseen expense for the state, costing taxpayers nearly $5 million, as Louisiana had no other statewide races scheduled this year.

The office is being run by Kennedy’s top assistant until the fall election.

The Louisiana Legislature adjourned the second special session Friday, June 16, 2017 after passing the state’s budget.

The Legislature could not reach an agreement to pass the budget during the 2017 regular legislative session forcing Gov. John Bel Edwards to call a special session to set an operating budget for the 2017 fiscal year.

The legislature is not scheduled to convene again until the 2018 regular legislative session.

The Louisiana Legislature adjourned its regular legislative session Thursday, June 8, 2017, and immediately convened a 12-day special legislative session to pass the state’s operating budget for the financial year beginning July 1, 2017.

The Legislature was unable to reach an agreement on the budget during the regular session. House Democrats want to allocate the entire state operating budget while House Republicans are set on only funding a portion of the budget so there is a cushion in case the revenue prediction is wrong.

The session is to adjourn no later than Monday, June 19, 2017. This is Louisiana’s second special session this year.

This week, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a call for a special session of the Louisiana Legislature as a precautionary measure in response to significant disagreements over the state’s operating and construction budgets.

The special session, if necessary, is to convene Thursday, June 8, at 6:30 pm and must adjourn by midnight on Monday, June 19. The regular session of the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn at 6:00 pm on Thursday, June 8, with the special legislative session convening just half an hour later if no budget consensus is reached.

Gov. Edwards has threatened to veto the current budget, which leaves $206 million unspent, as he believes it forces unnecessary cuts.

The Louisiana Legislature adjourned a special legislative session on Wednesday, February 22, after approving a deal to close the state’s $304 million budget deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30.

Lawmakers agreed to use $99 million from the state’s rainy day fund, combined with shuffling allocated money and spending cuts across the Department of Education, State Police, and local offices offering mental health and addiction treatment.

Gov. John Bel Edwards stated budget stabilization will be a focus in the coming session. Louisiana’s 2017 regular legislative session is scheduled to convene April 10.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has called a special session of the Louisiana Legislature.

The special session will convene at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 13, and must adjourn by midnight on February 22.

The governor wants the Legislature to address the state’s budget shortfall and believes a special session is necessary to spread cuts across government and minimize cuts to critical state services.

Edwards plans to lay out the specifics of the budget cuts this week.

The Legislature is not scheduled to convene its regular legislative session until April 10, 2017.

Gov. John Bel Edwards plans to issue a call this week to bring the Louisiana Legislature into a special session to try and close the state’s $304 million deficit.

The special legislative session will run from February 13 to February 23, 2017, but could wrap up earlier if a solution is reached. Edwards met with the joint House and Senate budget committees last Friday and faces no direct challenges to his plan.

He is in favor of using the state’s rainy day fund to bridge the budget gap and has stated there will be no proposals to do so by raising fees and taxes. However, no specifics on where cuts are intended have been announced.

An official list of proposed cuts is to be announced February 6, 2017.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said on Friday a special session of the legislature is likely necessary to remedy a $313 million deficit in the state’s budget. Gov. Edwards stated last week that any deficit beyond $300 million would automatically trigger a special session as it would exceed the amount he can cut from the budget on his own.

Due to Louisiana’s legal framework, a special session will allow budget cuts to be balanced for agencies across the board while higher education and healthcare would be the target if the cuts are done while the Legislature is not in session. Gov. Edwards is also considering making use of the state’s rainy day fund to close the budget gap. No date for the special session has been set but mid-February is being discussed as the target date.

Republican candidate John Kennedy won a state run-off election on December 10 to fill Louisiana’s second seat in the U.S. Senate. Kennedy, Louisiana’s incumbent treasurer, won 61 percent of the vote to defeat Democratic candidate Foster Campbell.

Kennedy will take office January 3, 2017, creating a vacancy in his current position that will be filled in a special election to be held in March or October 2017. The First Assistant State Treasurer will take over as treasurer until an election can take place.

Campbell, a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, was looking to increase the number of Democrats in the Senate and gained nationwide support and over $2 million in donations in the months leading up to the December 10 election.

With Kennedy’s victory, the Senate is comprised of 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats. Kennedy will hold the seat until he is up for re-election in 2022.

On June 23, the special session of the Louisiana Legislature adjourned. The governor wanted $600 million to address the state’s budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, but lawmakers would only approve legislation providing $263 million. The special session began the day the regular session concluded.

The 2016 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature adjourned sine die on June 6, 2016. Upon transmittal of a bill, Gov. John Bel Edwards will have 20 days to sign or veto legislation.

A special session was also convened on June 6 and must adjourn by midnight on June 23. Edwards called the special session in May for the Legislature to address the state’s budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning on July 1.