With less than four and a half months to go until the start of the next regular session, lawmakers are dropping hints about what kinds of bills they’ll be introducing, says Jeremy Alford.
“Task forces and committees are wrapping up their yearend reports, many of which include bill suggestions,” Alford writes in his latest column. “Statewide elected officials, like the governor and secretary of state, are publicly discussing their own agendas. And, of course, special interests are out there drafting and floating and angling their way through it all. So it’s time to pay attention.”
The Legislature’s next regular session will convene on March 12, but Alford says the backstories for what you’ll see and hear during that gathering have already begun in earnest. For example, a special session to address the state’s $1 billion deficit is expected to be held right after Mardi Gras—just prior to the regular session.
“If a regular session is being conducted during an even-numbered year, like next year, lawmakers are prohibited from introducing bills to generate new revenue for the state,” Alford writes. “But legislators will be allowed to file bills, following a set of deadlines, on practically any other subject matter they choose.”
So far that seems to include issues related to dedicated funds, testing at public schools, felony sentencing, election turnout, student fees, workers’ compensation fraud, health care coverage for law enforcement and a variety of other topics.
“There’s no doubt that 2018 could end up being a very busy policy year. Plus there are bound to be surprises. Will lawmakers file a bill to restructure the upcoming redistricting process? Will there be another big push for a constitutional convention? Both of those subject areas could cause a lot of noise,” Alford writes. “For now, however, this is what we’re working with for the 2018 regular session. As long as lawmakers figure out a way around or through the fiscal cliff, preferably in a post-Mardi Gras special session, this all sounds perfectly fine. But should they falter on the deficit, members of the House and Senate may want to consider toning it down a bit.”
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.
