Lawmakers leave the Capitol with not a whole lot to show for a conflict-driven, plot-twisting, at times somewhat harrowing session, except for a balanced budget without devastating cuts, tax increases or contingencies. For all that wasn’t done, legislators did what they were supposed to do in a fiscal session, and without bringing to pass the doomsday scenarios floated over the past year. The gap was filled largely with a balance of spending cuts and cash pulled from dozens of dedicated funds and other pots of money, not all of which House leaders knew about until last week. While the state had a budget problem, it did not have a cash problem.
— Video poker is coming to Illinois, and two Louisiana legislators and a lobbyist were set to be in on the ground floor; but their company might not get off the ground. Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Livonia, Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma, and video poker lobbyist Alton Ashy are listed as partners in Illinois Gaming Management, which has an application pending for a video gaming license. All three say, however, their machine distribution business likely won’t go forward because the manufacturer they were working with is being bought out. Additionally, the industry itself is in limbo because the 2009 law legalizing video gaming has been challenged in court. “The application has been withdrawn,” says Marionneaux. “I just want to get my money back.”
They said it: “My little bill in the course of going through the Senate got tattooed by more amendments than the Ohio State football team.” —Rep. Chris Roy, D-Alexandria
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. He’s going on vacation, the column will return July 15.)
Today’s poll question: How would you grade the Louisiana Legislature for the job it did during the recent session?
