Louisiana Politics: When will La. lawmakers meet again in Baton Rouge?

After convening three different times this year, the Louisiana Legislature isn’t scheduled to go into another lawmaking session until March 12, 2018.

That’s when the House and Senate will begin their annual regular session — just like the one that was concluded in early June.

Legislators, however, may have to gavel in sooner than that to address a $1.2 billion shortfall for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has publicly discussed releasing a call for what will be the fifth special session of this term, but he has offered no concrete timelines or certainties. Legislative leaders, meanwhile, believe it could be called as soon as January.

The problem for Edwards is that he needs the House and Senate to support the creation of new revenue, which his administration has found to be challenging at best over the past two years, particularly in the House.

Perhaps that’s why Edwards has been telling reporters lately that he may just skip another special session, thus allowing drastic budget reductions to take hold, if the House doesn’t start to coalesce around a revenue plan.

The bottleneck in the legislative process, specifically for tax hikes, resides in the lower chamber, where conservative lawmakers have so far refused to approve permanent revenue-raising measures.

Complicating matters is the fact that the only opportunity state government will have to tinker with revenue bills in 2018 is via a special session. By law only non-fiscal regular sessions can be held in even-numbered years.

If the governor does plan to trigger a special session next year, it’s unclear what would be in his call, or agenda.
Infrastructure money to Stokes

Supporting the proposed gas tax increase during this year’s regular session might not play well with hard-right voters and groups like Americans For Prosperity.

But state Rep. Julie Stokes, R-Kenner, is learning that it’s really popular with certain donors, which isn’t a terrible problem to have if you’re running for treasurer.

The Louisiana Asphalt Pavement Association is the latest group to come to the Stokes camp and it has scheduled a fundraiser for her.

Here’s a look at what the asphalt lobby think about the candidate, based on a recent internal email: “Rep. Stokes is the ONLY State Treasurer candidate that supported/supports infrastructure improvement. Her vote in committee and her continued vocal support was critical in advancing the infrastructure improvement legislation.”

Stokes was also endorsed on the tail end of the regular session by Louisiana Associated General Contractors.

Here’s an excerpt from a similar internal email: “Rep. Stokes is running for State Treasurer and she is the only such candidate that supported the fuel tax increase. LAGC will support Ms. Stokes for Treasurer and I encourage all LAGC members to do so also.”

Political History: Governor
runs for president

This past weekend marked the second anniversary (June 24, 2015) of former Gov. Bobby Jindal officially launching an expected bid for president of the United States.

It was an uncommon sight for Louisiana voters, seeing their governor on the national news for reasons more fitting to Rhode Island than Avery Island and to New Hampshire more so than New Iberia. Jindal generated headlines by attacking long shot candidate Donald Trump, at one point calling the future president an “egomaniacal madman.”

Alas, Jindal’s national organization ran out of steam fast and was eventually disbanded, which was also the case for former Gov. Buddy Roemer in 2012. Campaign finance reform was Roemer’s central platform and he limited donations to $100 each. It was a formula that kept his own presidential campaign in play for six months, which was one month longer than Jindal enjoyed.

These last few years represent the closest any Louisiana governors — sitting or former — have come to running for president or vice president since 1972.

That was when late Gov. John McKeithen was reportedly being considered as the vice-presidential running mate for Hubert Humphrey. Alleged ties to organized crime may have stopped McKeithen from climbing the political ladder, though, and the related accusations brought the kind of media scrutiny for which the Humphrey team had little relish.

Before Jindal and McKeithen were pulled into the Beltway orbit, it was Huey P. Long who was angling to run for America’s top political position. Long had pinned his hopes to the 1936 election cycle, when incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt was to seek another term.

The Great Depression collided with Long’s “Share Our Wealth” message and bought the Kingfish national prominence. Crossfire from an assassination attempt, however, concluded that high-profile bid on Sept. 10, 1935.

That’s not to say the parties and their donors haven’t had some success finding formidable candidates among the ranks of the nation’s governors. Out of all of the presidents elected to date, 17 served as state governors before moving into the White House.

They said it

“We’ve had to be magicians for many years.”
—Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Monty Sullivan, on dealing with previous budget cuts

“Look, we’re trying to create taxpayers. Not run them off.”
—Sullivan, to legislators during the regular session, regarding tax and budget policies

For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Jeremy Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow.