As state general fund dollars are decreasing, and demand for government services remains strong, departments, agencies and boards are turning to the Legislature during the ongoing regular session and asking for millions of dollars in fee increases—not tax increases, writes Jeremy Alford in his latest column.
“It’s an important distinction,” Alford writes. “Lawmakers are unable to raise taxes in an even-numbered year, like this one, unless they’re in a special session.”
Alford adds that this creates a bit of a pinch for lawmakers in the regular session.
“The budget being drafted for the next fiscal year that begins on July 1 is short some $750 million from being fully funded,” he writes. “The assumption is that lawmakers will return for a special session after the regular session adjourns to try and drum up the money through tax increases, but the public bodies in need of that money don’t seem content to sit and wait.”
Alford notes both the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Environmental Quality have introduced massive fee packages for the regular session.
The Department of Agriculture also is looking to gain authority to set new fees for allowing advertising on department property, Alford adds.
But that’s only the beginning, he says, listing numerous proposed new fees or fee increases that would apply to all state courts, the Office of Motor Vehicles, cemeteries, fishing guides, drones, pipeline operators, clemency investigators, architects, medical records, notaries, oyster farmers, court reporters, crab fishermen, hunters, school bus drivers, insurance consultants, electric vehicle owners, oil companies, learner driving permits, contractors, birth certificates and death certificates.
“A very small handful of these items have already been spiked in the regular session, but the vast majority of the proposals are still on the move,” Alford says.
He acknowledges that lawmakers in the House had a hard time reaching a 70-vote threshold for taxes during the first special session of the year and some are already finding it difficult to support large fees as well in the regular session.
“There will be plenty of opportunities for this debate to play out,” Alford writes. “As of last week, nearly 80 bills addressed fees in some way, of which more than three dozen increase existing fees or create new ones.”
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.
