Good to go: A Baton Rouge judge refused today to throw out the Louisiana Chemical Association’s lawsuit objecting to a legislative tax change that raised $103 million for this year’s budget, The Associated Press reports. The Louisiana Legislature and the Department of Revenue argued the association didn’t have the legal standing to file the lawsuit. But Judge Michael Caldwell disagreed, allowing the lawsuit to continue. The chemical association is challenging the constitutionality of a temporary suspension of a 1-cent sales tax exemption on business utilities, a tax change expected to fall heaviest on chemical plants. Read the full story.
Pink slips: Trinity Marine Products announced today it will lay off 336 workers at its Madisonville plant by Dec. 30, a move that comes less than a week after the company rescinded a layoff notification for 283 workers at its Brusly facility. According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the Dallas-based firm will close its barge manufacturing facility on the Tchefuncte River and begin laying off workers on Dec. 4. The company announced in late August that it would close its Brusly plant by Nov. 30, but last week said it had landed a contract that will allow it to keep the plant open and the workers on the job.
The balance sheet: The assets and funded status for the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana increased over the previous fiscal year, according to a report presented to the system’s board of trustees. The report shows the assets rose by $1.4 billion, or 8% from the previous year, and now stand at $17.5 billion. That increases the system’s funded status to 60.9%. The report also says employers will pay $20 million less in employee retirement contributions next year, while debt owed to the fund by the state has decreased by $785 million. “This report shows that the work done over the past 25 years to protect the soundness of the retirement system is paying off,” TRSL Director Maureen H. Westgard says in a prepared statement. “It also confirms the findings of a recent report by the legislative actuary which concluded that TRSL pensions are sustainable.”
