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Credits could become the Legislature’s next big tax topic and university spending in Louisiana will soon be scrutinized in meaningful ways by lawmakers, House Speaker Phillip DeVillier said in a wide-ranging interview with LaPolitics. Reducing corporate and personal income taxes while peeling back franchise taxes were “huge wins” for the Legislature this term, but DeVillier said the state should study those changes carefully before branching out into other related policy areas. Tax credits, however, could be a place where the Legislature could make a sizable dent in next year’s regular fiscal session. “Now, one of the issues that we do have is a tremendous amount of credits that are still on the books,” the speaker said in the latest episode of the “LaPolitics Report” podcast (Listen on Spotify and Apple). “I think when you start getting rid of the credits, you’ll see the state general fund kind of get propped up again to where you could spend those dollars on infrastructure. You can spend it on lowering more taxes or do a combination of both.” Asked if such a shift could happen next year, he added, “Possibly.”
—Higher ed spending review: The rest of this calendar year could likely be consumed in part by a far-reaching review of how colleges and universities spend their dollars, DeVillier said. There are instances of concern across the state, like at UL Lafayette, which kicked off this fiscal year with a $25 million shortfall and another $25 million in unpaid bills. “What we’re seeing today in the Legislature, and of course people have seen it across the state, is … I don’t want to use the word misspending, but the spending of tax dollars at universities,” DeVillier said. “You know, we see what was going on at UL and we feel like the new president is doing a great job trying to right-size that. But there’s other universities that, you know, we could talk about. I don’t want to get into all of the different problems that we have at different universities, but I believe we need to set up a task force … with members that have an interest in trying to figure out what went wrong with appropriating and spending of dollars at these universities and making sure that those universities are held accountable, whether it’s through the Board of Regents or through the different boards that the universities have in front of them to make sure that we don’t have this happen again.” Already, state Sen. Mike Reese, R-Leesville, who was named this week as the next president of McNeese State University, said he would soon file a resolution to create a study group to look into higher education funding.
—A 2026 special session?: Asked if a special session is possible in the coming months, the speaker was noncommittal. “I mean, I know the governor wanted to come back in and look at where we were when it comes to further reductions of income taxes,” DeVillier said. “And I still would say where we are today and looking at the numbers, it’s still a bit early to start doing any more when it comes to rate reductions. It’s something that I’m open to having a conversation about, but you know, that’s a possibility.”
—Post-speakership plans: Term-limited from serving further in the House beyond next year, DeVillier hasn’t finalized his post-speakership plans, but for now they are unlikely to include a run for the state Senate. “You know, that’s something I am sure everyone in office gets asked. ‘What’s your plans for the future?’” DeVillier said on the new podcast. “And I’ll say God has me 100% focused on being the speaker for the time that he has given me to do that. And I have nothing on my heart as far as running for another office at this time. I certainly don’t have any visions of me running for Senate. And that’s just kind of where we are right now.”
