Thinning ranks: Louisiana won’t train new state troopers for a fifth year under the budget proposal being considered by lawmakers. Louisiana State Police Col. Mike Edmonson has told lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee that he’s comfortable with the number of troopers patrolling the highways, about 575. That’s down from more than 700 four years ago. Gov. Bobby Jindal didn’t include the estimated $3.7 million that it would cost to pay for a new trooper class, their salaries and benefits in his budget proposal for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
Triage: A new group called the Louisiana Healthcare Education Coalition is being formed to help state residents navigate health care reform under the federal Affordable Care Act, as well as provide info on the health insurance marketplace, which will open for enrollment in October 2013, with coverage to begin in 2014. The coalition is hosting a launch meeting in Baton Rouge beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road. You can find out more on the coalition at its website here.
Collection call: The Marketplace Fairness Act, which would give states the authority to compel online and catalog retailers, no matter where they are located, to collect sales tax at the time of a transaction—much as brick-and-mortar stores already do—has a shot at becoming law this year after failing many times in recent years, Governing magazine reports. As part of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tax overhaul proposal, Louisiana would create a unified local and state sales tax collection process so that it could collect sales tax on online and catalog purchases, as is required by the federal act. Read the complete article here.
Today’s poll question: Do you think Baton Rouge should pursue annexing additional parts of the parish to bring them within city limits, as Metro Councilwoman C. Denise Marcelle is calling for?
