State lawmakers were not able to pass a budget before adjourning the regular session Monday afternoon and reconvening in a special session Monday night.
But they did find time to pass a bill to establish a transition district for the prospective city of St. George, creating a mechanism by which the new city—should it survive a court challenge and become officially incorporated—will be able to collect the 2% parish sales tax generated within its boundaries.
“We are thrilled the Legislature understood the importance of creating a framework for transition between the parish and St. George,” St. George spokesman Drew Murrell says. “Good government means planning ahead and that is what this bill accomplishes.”
Though Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s administration opposed SB423 by Sen. Mack “Bodi” White, R-Central, the final version of the legislation was amended in small but significant ways that made the measure less objectionable to them, Broome’s attorney Mary Olive Pierson says.
For one, the bill notes that the transition district only goes into effect “once the city of St. George is incorporated.”
Pierson is currently representing Broome and others in a lawsuit in 19th Judicial District Court challenging the incorporation and the prospective city cannot be officially incorporated until the legal issues are resolved.
The bill also was stripped of language that would have potentially excluded St. George from having to share in the cost of projects outside its boundaries—like a $10 million bond to match parishwide drainage improvements.
“They have eliminated our main objections,” Pierson says. “It’s not as bad as it was before and they’ve clarified that none of this will take place until the city of St George is incorporated, which will not be until the lawsuit is over and they win a non-appealable judgment.”
A similar bill was approved by lawmakers in 2019 but was vetoed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, who said at the time the legislation was premature since the election to incorporate St. George had not yet been held.
Sources familiar with negotiations this year say Edwards will not veto this bill, but Edwards’ spokesperson would not confirm that.
“The governor will review the bills that come to his desk and make a decision,” communications director Shauna Sanford says.
