After asking lawmakers to pass a wide variety of taxes during the special session that adjourned last week, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards stood before a joint meeting of the House and Senate today to open a regular session that hosts a variety of other requests from the administration.
The governor wants the Legislature to approve a higher minimum wage and equal pay for women; stabilize the budget ahead of another possible special session in June; and to prioritize certain higher education and health care issues.
After recognizing the ongoing struggles in the areas of the state that have suffered severe flooding in recent days, the governor offered a quick recap of the special session where lawmakers left two budget shortfalls party unresolved.
“Much progress was made, but not enough,” Edwards said. “Both the process and the final result were lacking. Too many refused to either vote for new revenue or to identify budget cuts to close the gaps as we are required to do.”
There’s still some uncertainty as to how much those shortfalls are—it could be at least $30 million for the current fiscal year, with the possibility of doubling soon, and somewhere around $800 million for the next fiscal year that begins July 1.
Lawmakers will only be able to reduce spending so much before taxes make their way back on the table, which is not allowed in a regular session held in an even-numbered year, thus the potential need for another special session after the three-month regular session concludes.
“We must always look for more efficiencies and savings, and my administration will do this, including an ongoing comprehensive review of contracts and programmatic changes undertaken by the Division of Administration,” Edwards said, adding that his administration has started a review of the capital outlay program as well, which is the annual budget for construction projects.
Edwards said that stabilizing the budget will be his top priority in the regular session, but he also wants critical priorities funded, such as higher education; health care, including private partners staying in Louisiana’s safety net hospital system; the TOPS scholarship program; and K-12 education. All of these categories have stakeholders that showed up during the special session, and Edwards asked them to keep the pressure up on lawmakers over the next three months. “Your testimony brought legislators to tears,” Edwards said during his speech. “Your rallies changed votes. You did make a difference. Your voices were heard and will continue to be heard. Our work is not done, and therefore, neither is yours. Keep speaking out. Keep fighting for the Louisiana our children deserve, and I will keep fighting with you.
Education appears to be a cornerstone of Edwards’ regular session agenda. He wants to broaden the measures of student achievement used to evaluate public school teachers and reduce the money and time spent on standardized testing. The administration also wants to limit vouchers and reinvigorate local control by shifting more authority to school boards.
Edwards said he likewise wanted to attack poverty by hiking the minimum wage. “Paying our workers a living wage is a basic principle in a land of opportunity,” Edwards said. “$7.25 per hour is simply not a living wage in 2016.”
He called it a “modest increase” that would be phased in over the next two years with a minimum wage of $8 per hour beginning in 2017 and then $8.50 in 2018. He noted 14 other states kicked off the New Year with increased minimum wages.
Equal pay for women is another component of his plan. “Single mother households account for the majority of Louisiana families living in poverty and over half of our low income families,” the governor said.
In other areas, Edwards wants to restructure the Department of Children and Family Services to realign staff for better efficiencies and seek out reforms to the juvenile justice system. He has a proposal to attack the state’s $12 billion backlog of construction projects by reconfiguring the Transportation Trust Fund so that dollars are used for their intended purposes and doubling funding for the Port Priority Program from $19.7 million to $39 million per year.
Passenger rail made an appearance in Edwards’ prepared comments as well. “Louisiana will not be left at the station when it comes to passenger rail in this part of the country,” he said. A Baton Rouge-to-New Orleans connection has long been studied and promoted on both sides of Interstate 10.
Edwards ended his appeal by asking for bipartisanship.
“This isn’t about Republicans, Democrats, or Independents—rural communities or urban areas. This work is about Louisiana,” the governor said, adding, “So as we work together to solve our state’s problems, let’s continue marching to the beat of our own drum—not Washington, D.C.’s.”
Jeremy Alford will publish a daily update throughout the legislative regular session on Daily Report PM. Alford reports on Louisiana politics at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
