La. lawmakers wrap up session today

The two-month regular legislative session is drawing to a close today. Lawmakers planned to complete next year’s state construction budget and decide whether to renew a 4-cent state cigarette tax before wrapping up their work by 6 p.m. The session was marked by defeat of many of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s key initiatives, as lawmakers showing signs of independence shelved the governor’s proposals to raise college tuition, merge the University of New Orleans and Southern University at New Orleans, sell state prisons and raise state employee retirement costs. The governor got what he wanted out of the budget, but legislators went their own way in deciding how to finance it all. Election year politics was a factor in the pushback on Jindal’s plans, but so too were lawmakers’ residual discontent from redistricting disputes in the spring and House Speaker Jim Tucker’s emphasis on fiscal restraint.