The income tax repeal bill roared back to life this morning when a House committee advanced it to the floor, without hinging its passage on a study commission plan to replace the lost revenue. SB 259 by Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Livonia, would take effect on the governor’s signature, though the ten-year phase-out period would begin in 2014. Ways & Means Chairman Hunter Greene, R-Baton Rouge, offered the amendment to remove the study commission requirement, saying his change would force the next Legislature to get serious about controlling spending. An earlier amendment removed the corporate income tax repeal from Marionneaux’s bill. Greene says he is encouraged by the bill’s prospects of passing in the House, which would only require a majority vote. Marionneaux says he would support amendments to separate bills that would repeal some tax exemptions, but does not want them added to his bill, for that would then require a two-thirds vote to pass it. If the tax repeal bill passes the full House, it would likely head to a conference committee with the Senate to try to strike a compromise.
— A constitutional amendment to fix what has been termed a flaw in the rainy-day fund passed House committee. According to how the current constitutional provision is worded, money taken out of the Budget Stabilization Fund during a deficit year must be repaid in that same year, a situation Senate President Joel Chaisson, D-Destrehan, has called “incomprehensible.” His proposed amendment would not require any deposits back into the fund in the year money was taken out or the next year. Chaisson differed with an amendment that Chairman Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, had attached that would require a full payback in the third year, while Chaisson’s original bill would allow for repayment over four years. The two agreed to try to work out a resolution when the bill gets to the House floor. Currently, a 2009 statute allows the state to skip repayment for two years, but that law is being challenged in court for being in conflict with the constitution. If the proposed constitutional amendment passes the Legislature and is approved by voters this fall, it would resolve the lawsuit.
(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.)
