Down: State revenue as of the end of May stands at $6.55 billion for the 2015-16 fiscal year, an 8% decrease from last May, Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy says. That number includes money generated from sales tax, individual income tax, general severance tax, corporation and franchise tax, gasoline and special fuels tax, and miscellaneous tax cash receipts. “Total state revenue collections are increasing, for the most part, from one month to the next (since December) even if they aren’t at the level they were the prior fiscal year,” Kennedy says in a statement released today. The biggest drops in revenue come from general severance tax cash receipts and corporation and franchise tax cash receipts, which are down 40% and 77%, respectively, from this time last year.
Rejected: Former Louisiana lawmaker Jeff Arnold won’t be making decisions about property tax breaks for businesses on the state board that oversees such things, after senators refused to confirm him for the position. The Associated Press reports the Senate rejected seven appointments to boards and commissions made by Gov. John Bel Edwards, including Arnold’s nomination to the Board of Commerce and Industry. Arnold, a Democrat from New Orleans, was term-limited earlier this year and ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat. Also rejected by the Senate for a position on a New Orleans-area flood protection board was Metairie lawyer Jack Capella, who is president of Georges Enterprises, which owns The Advocate. Sen. Troy Carter, who defeated Arnold, wouldn’t say whether he blocked Arnold’s confirmation.
Enrolled: More than 197,000 people have been enrolled in Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion program, ahead of the July 1 start of the insurance coverage, according to figures released today by the Department of Health. The Associated Press reports most of the enrollment is not from people actively signing up, however. Nearly 187,000 people who already receive a limited list of health services from the state were automatically signed up for the Medicaid expansion by the health department because they were deemed eligible. The remaining enrollees registered for the health insurance online, by phone, in person—or because they were food stamp recipients determined to also be eligible for the Medicaid coverage. Medicaid expansion will cover adults ages 19 to 64 making up to 138% of the federal poverty level, about $33,400 for a family of four.
