Suspicious Legislation

On Wednesday, a Louisiana State House committee killed a bill (originally by Sen Bodi White) that would have shielded from the public information about which firms were receiving tax breaks and other "economic incentives" from the state. At the very least, passing the bill would have represented a remarkable about-face by a Republican Party who spent much time and money in recent years promoting a "budget transparency" website. 

We know senses of shame are in short supply in Baton Rouge so it's hard to believe such a thing is possible, but maybe this would have been a step too far, even for them.

But after the bill cruised through the Senate with little opposition, lawmakers on the House and Governmental Affairs Committee questioned whether the legislation was really about protecting workers from having their information disclosed. The Public Affairs Research Council, a good government group, and the Louisiana Press Association both slammed the legislation as overly broad and argued it would hide important information about who is receiving tax money through the state’s myriad incentive programs.

“I don’t know what the real motive is here,” said Democratic Rep. Wilford Carter, calling it “suspicious legislation.” “My instinct is that it’s something other than what we’re hearing today.”

On the other hand, when you control the legislature with supermajorities when the public is distracted (or excluded) from your activities thanks to a global pandemic, why even bother going to the trouble to hide the looting in the first place. Nobody is paying attention. And even if they are, what are they gonna do? Go ahead and pass all the suspicious legislation you want. Nobody is going to stop you.

Oil and gas companies won another round in the Louisiana Legislature on Wednesday when a House committee approved a measure that would kill lawsuits filed by seven coastal parishes against the companies over the loss of wetlands and marshes.

The 9-3 vote by the Natural Resources Committee advances Senate Bill 440 to the full House. Its chances of winning passage there appear solid since most Republicans favor it, and the GOP has almost two-thirds of the seats in the House.

Granted that kill-the-lawsuit bill still has a long way to go, but it's amazing that we're even wasting any time on this right now. Most of this has been going on during a statewide stay at home order. The legislators should be meeting as little as possible right now. Since we already know we're going into at least one special session this year, the only thing they really even needed to convene this session for at all was to pass a perfunctory budget bill.  But even that simple task has proceeded in a somewhat suspicious manner. The COVID crisis has cratered revenues for this year. There are workarounds in place to get us through the emergency period.  And yet, some lawmakers seem like they don't really want to do that. For example, Lance Harris here.

State economists revised the revenue outlook for the state downward by nearly $1 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, largely because of cratering oil prices and sales tax collections that are expected to be sluggish as businesses contend with a virus that has made many people wary of going out.

But state leaders are using broad flexibility granted by the U.S. Treasury Department in crafting the budget. For instance, the plans use $290 million in federal dollars to fund the state’s corrections department, because the feds told state officials they can assume payroll expenses for public safety qualify as coronavirus-related spending.

Economists are currently projecting revenues will rebound by about $700 million next year, but not all are convinced. State Rep. Lance Harris, an Alexandria Republican, asked the governor’s administration to plan for possible cuts in case the budget outlook worsens in the middle of this fiscal year.

And hey maybe that's right.  Maybe there won't be a $700 million rebound next year.  But if that's what you're worried about, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be slashing taxes on oil companies right now.  Or, at least, it's a bit suspect.