The Committee of 100 for Economic Development, the state’s business roundtable comprising leaders of Louisiana’s largest companies, is urging Gov. John Bel Edwards and state legislative leaders to pass a comprehensive fiscal reform package that will solve the state’s immediate fiscal crisis and also create a more stable and predictable revenue structure for the future.
In a letter sent this morning to Edwards, Senate President John Alario and House Speaker Taylor Barras, C100 notes that two years ago it developed “a menu of options” to address the state’s chronic fiscal crisis. Those options were based on several independent studies, including one commissioned by the Legislature in House Concurrent Resolution 11.
“The health of our state, our economy and the interests of our businesses and citizens mandate that we take the steps necessary to address the fiscal cliff while planning for a multiyear implementation of the changes recommended by the HCR 11 Task Force,” says the letter, co-signed by C100 Chair Sonia Perez, and past chair Tom Clark.
The state is facing a more than $1 billion “fiscal cliff” in July, when temporary sales taxes passed by the Legislature to stave off fiscal crises in 2015 and 2016 are set to expire. Edwards and lawmakers have been talking about comprehensive fiscal reform since the governor took office, but Republican lawmakers have rejected his proposals and have yet to come up with any solutions of their own.
C100 urges those lawmakers to act during a special session in early 2018 to deal with fiscal issues.
“The C100 stands ready to support comprehensive reforms now and into the future,” the letter says. “We recognize that this will require a level of cooperation and engagement that has been sorely lacking from our political climate and has brought us to the brink of failure that we now face, but it is the only way to position our state to realize our potential.”
As the letter was circulating, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee was meeting to discuss budget issues. At 2:30 p.m., the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference was scheduled to deliver an update on the state’s projected financial picture for 2018, and earlier in the day Edwards met with legislative leadership to discuss the possibility of the special session.
While it’s still too soon to say what may happen, C100 leadership says the state is running out of time to make meaningful reforms.
“… The legislative debate has been monopolized by short term fiscal fixes that distract from stabilizing our economy and send precisely the wrong message to businesses seeking to grow here or move here,” the letter says. “By implementing the comprehensive measures recommended by HC 11, we can begin to reverse this perception.”
—Stephanie Riegel
