Though the course can still be corrected over the next few days—and the Capitol is certainly capable of producing last-minute Christmas morning miracles—Jeremy Alford says the latest policymaking experiment in Baton Rouge already looks like “The Special Session That Didn’t Happen.”
“Anyone who is viewing this special session through politically-honest lenses knows the Legislature hasn’t yet reached a sense of urgency about not having a state budget in place,” Alford writes in his latest column. “In fact, as of Monday morning, a budget hadn’t even been introduced for the special session.”
Alford says there’s a real chance that those on both sides of the argument—Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration and the conservative-dominated Legislature—could end up in their own case of mutually assured destruction.
Known lovingly as MAD in military doctrine, mutually assured destruction refers to a scenario where two superpowers both trigger their respective nuclear arsenals for an outcome that can only be described as complete annihilation, Alford says.
“Are both sides willing to fall on their swords?” Alford wonders. “Will they simply destroy each other in lieu of doing their jobs?”
There’s shaky consensus inside the Legislature on the basic concept of keeping a portion of the temporary fifth penny of state sales tax that was added earlier this term—and will expire July 1—but there are not many chances left for lawmakers to close the $648 million budget shortfall, Alford says.
“As such, the potential outcomes have lawmakers and the administration either going home next Monday with substantial cuts to state government to follow or going into another special session sometime on or after June 4,” he writes. “That could make the 27 days between June 4 (the special session’s adjournment) and July 1 (the start of the new fiscal year) the most important stretch of time the Capitol class will face this calendar year.”
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
