On the same day that U.S. News and World Report issued its annual list of the Best States, ranking Louisiana dead last for the third year in a row based on its health care, education, infrastructure, crime and other quality-of-life measures, a state legislative committee was debating whether to set the legal age of marriage at 18.
The timing couldn’t have been more ironic, writes Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel in her latest column.
But then, this is Louisiana, a state where lawmakers have also spent valuable time this session debating whether Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” should be named an official state song, and questioning whether vaccines cause autism.
Yet while such heady debates raged, a gas tax bill that was widely supported by business and economic development groups—including, significantly, the anti-tax Louisiana Association of Business and Industry—didn’t even make it to a committee hearing because lawmakers are so afraid of voting for a tax in an election year, Riegel writes.
While there isn’t a causal relationship between vaccines and autism, there is direct link between investments in transportation infrastructure and improving quality-of-life for citizens.
Which brings Riegel to ask, why is it so impossible for Louisiana to move forward?
Read her full column about the ways Louisiana seems to be stuck several decades behind. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com
