BusinessReport.com

A cell phone rings, and Ginger Sawyer picks it up and listens. “OK, but we have to be on the floor for 1 o’clock,” she says before ending the call, almost as soon as it began. Of course, Sawyer is well aware there are only a few days left in the Legislature’s regular session, that period of panic when bills are rushed through the process with the aid of clandestine negotiations and nudging lobbyists.

She’s in legislative mode and has been for nearly half a year, along with everyone else at the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, where she works as the political action director.

Sawyer recalls buying into the February special session on ethics reform and walking away happy from the March special session on business tax relief. But talk of the recent regular session, which kicked off on the heels of the second special session on March 31, is much more formulaic. It’s probably because everyone, lawmakers included, is ready for the Legislature to go home. Lawmakers are accustomed to working in session for only three months or so per year, which explains the political gall that might have ignited their foray into pay-raise heaven.

This most recent session in particular, however, is only leaving unanswered questions in its wake. A historic workforce development plan still needs to be implemented, but it has a dizzying array of moving pieces and a price tag that’s still to be determined. Issues business and industry thought were dead are being resurrected. Moreover, lobbyists are still trying to make heads or tails of the new House of Representatives, whose new membership, brought about by term limits, is producing votes that are sometimes contradictory and never systematic. “It’s a steep learning curve,” Sawyer says. “We’re all just going to need some time.”

Sawyer has time, with another three years worth of sessions to spend with the new House. But for now, resources are also being spent on the aftermath of this year’s legislative season in an effort to make sense of it all.

Working it out

Jindal came out of the gate swinging for workforce development, promising it would be his top priority. And it was. That single issue prompted the complete reorganization of the Department of Labor—it’s even being renamed the Louisiana Workforce Commission. New training programs for all Louisiana employers were also passed, and $18 million was set aside for community and technical colleges to begin the work immediately. Another $10 million is going into a rapid response training fund.

One of the more impressive features of the package brings the department back to the regional level with Workforce Investment Boards. It also reaches deeper for local participation as well by pulling in community-level groups like nonprofits, shelters and churches as partners to recruit workers that have been left out of the traditional workforce. Senate President Joel Chaisson II, the Democrat from Destrehan who co-sponsored the legislative package, says this formula creates a holistic approach for unemployed workers, employers and the state. “Louisiana will be better prepared to guide and train workers,” he says.

The new laws likewise help different state agencies communicate like never before, an attribute that has been largely glossed over. Agency sections are being merged, leadership positions are sharing responsibilities and once-defined boundaries are being erased. For instance, if a labor official needs GED information from the education department or child-support data from social services or tax identifications from revenue, the department no longer has to stand in line with everyone else. The department is part of the system.

The only lingering question is cost. Based on the fiscal notes attributed to the main bills in the package by Chaisson and GOP House Speaker Jim Tucker of Terrytown, the special funds attached to the bills and the reorganization of the department, the price tag is nearing $40 million over a five-year period. But many officials admit it’s a moving target as unexpected expenses will come up, whether it’s the cost of changing logos or costs of setting up regional operations.

A House divided

Business and industry was understandably happy following the March special session. Lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to eliminate the sales tax on utilities and accelerate the phaseouts of taxes on machinery and corporate debt. Lobbyists thought they had the House figured out, but they were wrong. The Senate has remained predictable on business issues in the most recent session, but with 60 new members, the House is inconsistent at best.

On the legal front, a revamping of the way asbestos litigation is handled was shot down despite intense work by industry. On the medical front, Sawyer says she was surprised to see mandates for hospitals and others on the move after House members made an unofficial vow to stay away from them about 10 years ago. “It was surprising to all these new and wide-eyed faces revisiting issues we thought were settled or already relatively settled,” she says.

Freshmen also aren’t following the time-honored rule of following up with lobbyists if they decide to change their vote following a promise. It’s a minor thing, but enough to keep special interests grumbling about how much harder they’re having to work. “One of the biggest things is the lack of institutional knowledge and historical perspective,” Sawyer said. “They just don’t know protocol.”

Reducing the unemployment tax was viewed as an accomplishment from the regular session, as was the Legislature’s endorsement of a bill that would cut state income taxes by $359 million each year beginning in 2009. It was an issue that small businesses teamed up on, seeing the benefits for LLCs and Subchapter S corporations.

As for sleeper issues, there were always a few. The business lobby was disheartened to see the much-ballyhooed statewide groundwater policy be broken apart by lawmakers for the sake of Iberia Parish and local control—yet another bill that forced second looks at the House. Legislation prohibiting businesses from banning guns locked in private vehicles on company property also caught lobbyists by surprise as they mounted liability arguments in opposition and voiced concern over the safety of workplaces.

Above the horizon

So, the big question is whether Jindal or the Legislature will call another special session this year. The latest rumblings infer a possible December gathering, but there’s nothing official—unless you count the call of Shreveport’s mayor for a special session on tax incentives or the lawmakers wanting special sessions on health care and insurance.

Then again, the next regular session is roughly 10 months away. It convenes at noon on April 27, 2009, and not a second sooner.