The House and Senate are expected to adjourn the second special session of the year at some point today, but the drama and uncertainties connected to the gathering in Baton Rouge won’t begin to fade for quite some time. Lawmakers will return home this weekend with a short list of talking points, none of which will be enough to totally satisfy the constituents and policy stakeholders involved with the call’s three key issues (coronavirus restrictions, unemployment benefits and hurricane recovery). After weeks of hair-pulling and battling anxious conservatives in their districts who wanted an immediate end to restrictions, lawmakers barely managed to pass a bill by Senate President Page Cortez to create a legislative review process for future executive order renewals. Gov. John Bel Edwards, with his veto authority, isn’t a fan of the proposal. Other efforts to water down various enforcement powers of the executive branch passed the House during the special session, but met opposition from the Senate. The upper chamber hasn’t been as supportive of the governor as last term, but Edwards can clearly still find some cover in the Senate. It’s a different story in the House, where conservative members are trying to get a majority share of representatives to sign a petition to overturn the governor’s current order. Such a maneuver could help them save face upon reentry into the real world over the coming days and weeks—even if the petition ends up in the courts. On the unemployment dilemma, lawmakers can take credit for helping businesses avoid new taxes due to a bankrupt system, but there were no long-term funding solutions forged. On hurricane recovery, a handful of critical education-related needs were addressed, but none of those policies was front-page news.
Retiring and hiring: After 27 years of service, Patrick Goldsmith, director of the House Fiscal Division, will work his final day in the Capitol on Oct. 23. Elsewhere around the Capitol, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne has appointed Col. David Couvillon as the new CEO of the Office of Group Benefits. Couvillon starts his new job tomorrow and replaces interim CEO Renita Ward Williams.
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
