Ask Gov. John Bel Edwards about the upcoming special session of the Legislature and he’ll refer you to a task force that started its work on structural tax and budget reforms about five weeks ago, writes Jeremy Alford in his latest column.
“As a political tactic, it’s shrewd, since the volley puts the attention on the task force—and off of him—for what will be yet another gut-wrenching policymaking session,” Alford writes. “From a practical standpoint, it places added pressure on the task force, which was created during the first special session earlier this year.”
Edwards has asked the group to draft a proposed agenda of sorts by May 15 for a second special session, Alford says, presumably to be called by the governor in early June.
“That’s an acceleration,” Alford writes of the May deadline. “The initial legislative charge of the Task Force on Structural Changes in Budget and Tax Policy was to produce a set of suggestions by September for the 2017 regular session.”
Alford acknowledges that the governor has said on a few occasions that he doesn’t expect the task force to yield any recommendations that haven’t already been put forth by numerous other study groups in recent years. But he points out that Edwards still wants the task force to report back to him personally, four months ahead of schedule, and he’ll use the findings to set the agenda for the second special session.
“Should lawmakers not deliver the new revenue needed in that session to close what is now a $600 million budget hole, Edwards will be able to say the Legislature did not act on the recommendations from the blue-ribbon commission. That’s certainly preferable to saying some or all of his own agenda failed,” he writes. “While this places the task force in the driver’s seat, make no mistake about who owns the car and who is paying for the gas. The governor has a solid voting majority on the task force, including his own appointment and two cabinet members, and he has already made a few of his preferences known.”
During a press conference last week, Edwards twice put a spotlight on the task force, Alford notes.
“I’m not going to get ahead of them and tell you what I expect them to do because then it makes it my plan instead of theirs,” the governor said, adding later, “Raising revenue can take multiple forms. One is you can reduce tax exemptions, which is something that I am very hopeful that the task force is going to put as the number one or number two recommendation that we can pursue in the second special session.”
“So you can at least expect the task force to address tax exemptions,” Alford writes. “The bigger question is whether the task force will get specific and target exemptions by name for the Legislature and governor to consider.”
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.
