Sales tax replacement: Louisiana Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy plans to introduce a bill next week to provide direct federal funding to Louisiana and other state and local governments to save them from possible bankruptcy, The News Star reports. Cassidy and New Jersey Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez have crafted the bipartisan plan to provide funding governments could use to replace lost revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic. States previously have received funding to offset coronavirus expenses—Louisiana got $1.8 billion—but that money can’t be used to offset lost tax revenue. Read the full story.
Building stats: National nonresidential construction spending fell 0.1% in March but is up 2.0% compared to the same time last year, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, spending totaled $802.6 billion for the month. Among 16 nonresidential subcategories, 12 experienced a decline in spending on a monthly basis. Private nonresidential spending fell 1.3% from February, while public nonresidential construction spending increased 1.6%. See the full analysis.
Electric security: President Donald Trump declared a national emergency for the nation’s power grid today and signed an order to ban the import and use of equipment that poses a threat to national security if installed in U.S. power plants and transmission systems, The Wall Street Journal reports. The move boosts U.S. efforts to protect the grid from being used as a weapon against American citizens and businesses, attacks that could have “potentially catastrophic effects,” Trump said. Read the full story.
