With the Louisiana House delaying yet another round of floor votes this morning, senators are increasingly frustrated by their sideline role on the special session. Legislative rules require most substantive tax bills to begin on the House side, so it’s a wait-and-see position that members of the upper chamber have become accustomed to this term.
But this special session, anchored by a $994 million shortfall, is different. Uncertainty is plaguing the process, said Sen. Blade Morrish, R-Jennings, with terms of perceived agreements changing “every half hour,” if they stay together that long at all. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Morrish, first elected to the House in 1996.
Senators in the Legislative Black Caucus, which has been driving negotiations this week, are standing with their House counterparts in favoring an income tax alteration over a higher state sales tax rate. Sen. Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, also said the upper chamber wants the House to send over enough permanent—not temporary—revenue to cover the entire shortfall.
Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, said he would be delighted to see the House send anything to the Senate, a still unaccomplished feat as of 2 p.m. this afternoon. The special session convened Feb. 19. “If we end up with a corpse and do a good postmortem on it, we could end up with something workable,” Claitor said. “Then again, we also run the risk of ending up with Frankenstein’s corpse.”
“I think the only true solution is going to be a constitutional convention,” added Claitor. The idea of redrafting Louisiana’s Constitution will begin trending in the regular session that convenes on March 12. Several related bills are expected to be introduced, and potentially debated.
The special session has resulted in frayed nerves and burned bridges in legislative circles, particularly in the House, with emotions spilling over publicly only on occasion. The Senate has been spared such drama, although some senators are becoming more engaged in negotiations and the heat is traveling into the upper chamber as well. “As long as we’re talking behind closed doors, I think we’re fine,” said Sen. Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe.
As far as those rumors about the Legislature exiting the special session early, ahead of next week’s planned adjournment, freshman Sen. Ryan Gatti, R-Bossier City, said his colleagues don’t like the idea and aren’t planning to do anything like that. “We really don’t have an option to do nothing,” Gatti said.
Jeremy Alford will publish a daily update throughout the legislative special 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.
