As Gov. John Bel Edwards nears the halfway point of his term, Jeremy Alford says his most significant accomplishment thus far may be that his job ratings look as strong as ever.
“Edwards’ soft spot, meanwhile, remains as easy as ever to recognize—it’s the legislative process,” Alford writes. “To that end, Edwards outlined a familiar plan last week for addressing roughly $1 billion in temporary tax revenue that expires next year.”
Edwards has set a Jan. 19 deadline for negotiations with Republicans, promising he will not call a post-Mardi Gras special session to carve up a budget that administration officials already promise will be “terrible” and “a shocker” unless there’s a compromise by that date.
His plan relies on ideas—almost exclusively from last year’s tax and budget task force—that we’ve heard before, Alford notes. The exception is a plank to make permanent the recent reduction to tax credits.
“A sprinkling of representatives from business have offered encouraging words, although mostly from the Committee of 100, which hosted the luncheon where Edwards spoke about his session agenda,” Alford writes. “Not in attendance at last week’s event were the dozens of other business representatives who took part in the governor’s roundtable meetings this year. Edwards’ supporters say that coalition is still in place and will be brought back together next year. But the announcement ‘was not the place for that.’”
The announcement, Alford notes, did include what may be two of the most interesting words that the governor has uttered sequentially in any budget speech this year: “revenue neutral.”
Bobby Jindal was the last Louisiana governor to champion this fiscal philosophy, striving to have an equal offset for every $1 in tax revenue raised under his watch, he notes. Edwards, on the other hand, is using the term as a promise that he won’t ask for more revenue than what is needed to replace the temporary tax dollars coming off the books at the end of the fiscal year.
“That’s going to be a tricky task for the administration,” Alford writes. “That number seems constantly in flux, and even when it’s not it’s at least in question by conservatives. If not handled properly, the “revenue neutral” promise could get a little messy for Team Edwards, if it doesn’t confuse the heck out of everyone first.”
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.
