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After voters spat out their attempt to overhaul the article of the Constitution that governs revenue and finance through a single amendment, lawmakers are working to break up a similar rewrite into more bite-sized chunks.
Friday was the deadline to prefile constitutional amendment proposals, so legislators and staff were working through the details as this column was being compiled. 
Some of the bills that members are working on may be essentially placeholders destined for numerous amendments. There was no Plan B for tax reform, so members are trying to create one on the fly. 
House Ways and Means Chair Julie Emerson said several people who opposed Amendment 2 have reached out to her to say there were a lot of elements that they liked, but voted “no” because they had concerns about one or two things. 
“I’m not trying to bring it back in the exact same form,” she said. “I think we need to listen to some of the feedback and have a few different items and instruments that we can talk through and debate more on a granular level.”
Lawmakers still need to find a recurring revenue source for teacher pay raises, House Appropriations Chair Jack McFarland said, naming another piece of the Amendment 2 package. 
“I think it is inevitable that some of these things come back up in the fiscal session,” he said. 
But in the upper chamber, where Emerson’s bill creating Amendment 2 passed unanimously, there seems to be less appetite for more big swings. Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Chair Franklin Foil said he wasn’t aware of any “big plans” in the works in response to the amendment’s failure. 
With so little time between the election and the session, “we always knew that there would not be a whole lot of time to do something different if the amendment failed,” Foil said. 
While folks in the executive and legislative branches would love to reduce tax rates further, especially in light of Mississippi lawmakers moving to phase out their income tax, Foil said more cuts probably are off the table for this session. 
While there certainly will be cleanup legislation related to the other items lawmakers passed during the November tax session, “I think to make the big changes, we’re just going to have to give it a little bit of time to play out,” Foil added. 
Sen. Jeremy Stine said many voters are suspicious of off-year, low-turnout elections, fearing that state government is trying to slip something by them. He said he was considering filing legislation that would require constitutional amendments to run only on ballots featuring statewide or federal offices. 
As for how the Legislature should respond to the Amendment 2 failure, Stine suggested a “cooling off period” might be a better way to go, rather than trying major tax reform again this year. 
Pollster and consultant John Couvillon said breaking up the package into smaller pieces, so that it’s easier to convey what each one does, could be a smart strategy. The ballot language addressed six different topics, he said, plus the now-infamous kicker: “and make other modifications.” Many voters were no doubt asking themselves: What might those “other modifications” be? 
“That kind of vagueness and uncertainty is a big turnoff for voters,” he said. 
Couvillon said voters prefer to pick and choose what they’re comfortable with or not. Asking them to sign off on a single omnibus amendment that packs in more than 100 pages of legislation is asking quite a lot, he said. 
It’s also worth noting that other amendments on the ballot, particularly Amendment 3, which would have allowed lawmakers to add more crimes to the list of offenses for which minors can be tried as an adult without amending the constitution, drove much of the turnout behind the movement to reject all four amendments. 
But going back out with amendments this year would risk further voter fatigue, and would require spending that isn’t currently budgeted.
On the spending side, the biggest question relates to teacher pay. The amendment sought to lock in a stipend teachers and support workers have been receiving, and Gov. Jeff Landry’s executive budget doesn’t include the almost $200 million needed for another round of stipends. Without legislative action, Louisiana teachers would take a pay cut. 
The Revenue Estimating Conference has projected a $194 million shortfall for the next fiscal year, which the governor’s budget accounts for, McFarland noted. 
“Do we fund the teacher stipend?” he said. “In order to do that, you’re going to have to make reductions in the budget. So now, it’s a matter of us sitting down and prioritizing what’s important in the budget.” 
A standalone item that, like Amendment 2, called for dissolving three education trust funds and using that money for teacher pay, is likely to be debated this year. Also on the front burner is the inventory tax, said tax consultant Jason DeCuir, who often works with state lawmakers. DeCuir said lawmakers are exploring ways to delay the sunset of the inventory tax credit, and instead phase it out over a longer time frame.
Separately, lawmakers are discussing phasing out the tax itself, possibly over 10 years, which would make business advocates happy. That would require a constitutional amendment, and politically would require local buy-in. 
Amendment 2 would have allowed parishes to opt out of collecting the inventory tax. Drawing from dollars that would have been freed up by merging two state trust funds (another amendment provision), state officials planned to incentivize local leaders to give up the tax. 
The plan was to sunset the state tax credit for corporations that pay the tax in 2026, which already made the business lobby nervous. As things stand now, companies stand to lose the credit without even a chance of avoiding the inventory tax. 
As a side note, the Revenue Stabilization Fund the Legislature created in 2016 would have gone away if Amendment 2 had passed. Last year, lawmakers diverted more than $700 million that otherwise would have gone to the fund for one-time expenses; a similar maneuver may be tried this year to free up general-fund dollars.
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on X @ LaPoliticsNow.

Over the past 90 years, the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival has gone from a small festival representing the seafood industries to a grand event incorporating the petroleum industry as well. The dynamic joining of the two industries, created an association and festival that has brought honor and many awards to the Tri-City area.
The festival will be held on Labor Day Weekend, beginning on Thursday, Aug. 28, and continuing through Monday, Sept. 1.
"With the opening of our Membership & Sponsorship drives we want to recognize that one of the main reasons of our success is the support of our Members & Sponsors who give graciously year after year," the fesitval organization said in a news release.
"We would not be the great festival we are without the support of our community and for that we thank you! Information regarding opportunities for your support are available to you on our website https://www.shrimpandpetroleum.org/membership & https://www.shrimpandpetroleum.org/sponsorship . You can also contact the festival office for more information or with any questions you may have.
"We thank you for your continued support for our great festival and are looking forward to celebrating our 90th Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival with you all!"
For more information contact: Hailee Thomas, executive director at (985) 385-0703 or info@shrimpandpetroleum.org

Members of the drainage district serving Morgan City heard about progress on pump station upgrades designed to prevent the flooding that damaged more than 300 homes during Hurricane Francine.
But lean times may still be ahead for Consolidated Gravity District No. 2A as another hurricane season approaches and a key property tax election looms.
After the Francine flooding, Parish President Sam Jones obtained $14 million in Coastal Protection and Restoration funding for the pump stations and related work.
The bidding, billing and other administrative tasks went to the St. Mary Parish Levee District. Director Tim Matte gave a progress report at Tuesday’s meeting.
Aside from work on infrastructure leading to or from the stations, the first significant work seems likely to occur at Pump Station 4 in the Marquis Manor area. Bids are out and due to be accepted April 29.
Matte believes work on Pump Station 9 near Lake Palourde will follow the work on No. 4. The station has room for eight pumps but had only four. The upgrade includes equipping the station with all eight pumps.
Next, Matte said, will probably come Pump Station No. 8 in the Siracusa area. The fourth is No. 6 near the Central Fire Station, which should be helped by the work on No. 9.
As for the cost, “once we get a price on [Pump Station] 4, we’ll have a good idea of what the costs may be,” Matte said.
Jones attended the meeting and asked the commissioners to consider a 50-year master plan. The president has said at Parish Council meetings that planning, including maintenance and repair, could avoid a repeat of the problems with the pump stations that occurred during Francine.
Chairman Charlie Solar told Jones that he agrees a plan is needed. But he also said the district has been set back by the need to pay more than $200,000 for rental pumps.
“We want a 50-year plan,” Solar said. “We don’t have the money.”
“I can get the money,” Jones replied.
“Then get us some money,” Solar said.
In what looks like a gauge of public faith in the district, a 2.79-mill property tax renewal is on the May 3 ballot in 10 precincts, 35-44. (See related story.)

Less than a month after the last election, some St. Mary voters will be able to begin early voting for the next.
Two propositions are on the May 3 ballot, one for voters in west St. Mary, one in the east.
Early voting for the May 3 election will run April 19-26, excluding Sunday, April 20. You can vote at Registrar of Voters sites in the parish. Bring a photo ID to the polls.
Voters in Consolidated Gravity Drainage District No. 2 will be asked to renew a 2.79-mill property tax for 10 years. The tax raises an estimated $385,000 a year for “acquiring, constructing, maintaining and operating gravity and forced drainage works within and for the District.”
The district covers the Morgan City area, specifically voting precincts 35-44.
The district has received $14 million in state funding to upgrade four stations that pump water out of Morgan City when heavy rain falls.
Deficiencies in the pump stations were identified but not remedied in time for Hurricane Francine, which pushed water into hundreds of Morgan City homes on Sept. 11.
Even after the state funding, the district faces the potential need to rent portable pumps costing hundreds of thousands as a new storm season approaches.
At Tuesday’s District 2A board meeting, Commissioner Chuck Walters asked voters to pass the renewal.
“It’s imperative,” Walters said. “It’s the most important thing I’ve put my hands on, and I don’t get to vote on it. I live in Amelia.”
Voters in Cypremort Point, voting precinct 1, will be asked to renew a 2-mill property tax.
The tax, which would be renewed for 10 years, raises $60,000 a year “for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, improving, maintaining and operating the District’s fire protection facilities, including the purchase of fire trucks, and paying the cost of obtaining water for fire protection purposes. …”
On March 29, St. Mary voters elected Lawrence Guillory to the School Board and helped defeat four proposed amendments to the state constitution. Among them was Amendment 2, a key component of Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to change Louisiana’s taxation system.