Governor John Bel Edwards signed an executive order directing the flags of the United States and the State of Louisiana to be flown at half-staff over the State Capitol and all public buildings and institutions of the State of Louisiana on Friday, March 4, 2016 until sunset.
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The special session must end by Wednesday.
The election is set for Saturday.
Edwards said earlier this week that had lawmakers moved his entire special session agenda, which collectively hosts one of the largest tax increases in recent history, the shortfalls would have been addressed by now.
The confusion over the bill adds new difficulties to the tricky political negotiating between the House and the Senate over how to rebalance this year’s budget, which had a hole estimated to reach $900 million for this year.
“It’s a shorter bridge to next year, where we can tackle true tax and budget reforms”, Waguespack says of the step-down method. House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, called on House members to “bear with us” after another day of inaction.
“If (the Legislature’s) lackadaisical approach continues over the next few days, then clearly we will not be successful and the implications of that are severe”, the governor said.
But the plan requires the House to back $83 million more in taxes than the $293 million in tax hikes House lawmakers have agreed to raise for this year’s budget.
The committee received a proposed revised version of the bill that restored the governor’s original cigarette tax hike.
“To purposely do that is to, I think, come very close to violating your oath of office because the constitution says you’re going to run a balanced budget”, Edwards said.
“I predict that tax increases will pass because it’s the only realistic way to balance the budget right now”, Amedée said.
“We’re talking about three-quarters of a penny for a can of beer”. Senators were hoping the House would agree to raise that much in taxes to fill the remaining hole.
The bigger-than-expected deficit could put pressure on House members to approve House Bill 61, or a similar measure, that would remove tax exemptions that keep dozens of transactions from having to pay sales taxes. He said the problem appeared to be with the accounting method for collecting the taxes.
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Senate Finance Chairman Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, said the Legislature’s financial analysts, after taking another look at the bill, decided it wouldn’t generate the money for this budget year. “It’s disappointing and frustrating for a lot of people who have made votes with the idea that we were getting closer to the light at the end of the tunnel”.
