House members question if the votes are there to override the governor’s veto of the tobacco tax renewal. When the override of the veto of HB 591 came up in regular order, its author Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, moved to return it to the calendar. Democrats still want to hold a vote, if only to get the Republicans on record against renewing the 4-cent-per-pack tax. Members report intense lobbying by the governor’s office. “They’ve gone from promising to threatening,” says one Democrat. Override supporters hope the Senate, where there was more support for the tax renewal, votes to override today in order to regain some momentum in the House.
—A House bill to require drug testing of 20% of cash welfare recipients heads to the Senate floor, after a gutting amendment was turned back in committee. HB 7 by Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, has made it as far as a similar bill he proposed last year went before it was deferred in Senate Finance Committee. This year’s bill projects lower expenses than last year’s, $60,000 for a full year—below the Senate’s $100,000 threshold for having to go to Finance Committee.
— Two committee votes this morning largely restore House cuts made to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s budget. A 5% tuition increase blocked last month in Joint Budget Committee was approved by that panel, making available $37 million that was originally budgeted for higher education. Early this morning, the Senate Finance Committee, with the help of the Jindal administration, identified over $200 million in unused funds. Senators inserted hundreds of funding amendments into the budget in ways to comply with the House rule requiring a two-thirds vote to spend one-time money. The full Senate is expected to take up the bill on Friday. The Jindal administration’s use of $350 million in one-time money in the House-passed budget bill, combined with the new money senators pulled from various funds, helps put the Legislature within voting distance of scaling the budget shortfall, once pegged at $1.6 billion.
(John Maginnis will publish a daily update on the legislative session at 3 p.m., available to LaPolitics Weekly subscribers on the Subscribers Only page at LaPolitics.com. You can register your user name and password on the Lapolitics home page.)
