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11.04.2024
Savings Account Shuffle
- Budget & Taxes
- Legislature
- Louisiana Constitution
The governor’s ambitious tax reform package includes a merger of two Louisiana trust funds that help promote financial stability for the state, a change that lawmakers should weigh carefully. The proposal that lawmakers will consider in the upcoming special session on taxes involves the Budget Stabilization Fund (commonly known as the state’s “rainy day” fund) […]
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06.04.2024
2024 Session: Chipping Away at Sunshine
- Budget & Taxes
- Legislature
- Open Meetings & Public Records
A year after lawmakers passed the state budget in a frenzied final few minutes before theirdeadline, the Louisiana Legislature adopted a $49 billion compromise package of spending plansthis year with time to spare and no last-minute chaos in their three-month regular session.
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05.13.2024
Governor’s Records Should Remain Open
- Legislature
- Open Meetings & Public Records
Just as it appeared one awful public records exemption bill may be defeated for the current legislative session, another damaging exemption idea could take its place.
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04.02.2024
PAR Statement on a Proposed Constitutional Convention
- Legislature
- Louisiana Constitution
The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana believes the state needs constitutional reform after years of cluttering Louisiana’s primary governing document with hundreds of amendments and provisions best left to statute.
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02.19.2024
RESET Louisiana Calls for Thoughtful Decisions in Crime Special Session
- Legislature
- RESET
As lawmakers start work in a special session called by Gov. Jeff Landry to address crime, RESET Louisiana urges the House and Senate to make decisions based on data and best practices known to reduce violent crime rather than backpedaling on reform.
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01.23.2024
Mapping the Future: Redistricting Do-Over
- Legislature
- Redistricting
Gov. Jeff Landry launched his first special session in office with a lengthy to-do list. Lawmakers gave him the congressional map he preferred and a portion of the election system redesign he desired. The rest of the agenda ended up on the cutting room floor, with the ideas likely to reappear in future legislative sessions.
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01.12.2024
Partisan Primaries a Move Backward
- Elections
- Legislature
Louisiana’s first legislative session of the new administration and new term will include proposals to change the state’s primary election system from an open primary to a closed one, an issue never highlighted by candidates in the 2023 elections.
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08.10.2023
Judicial Study Stonewalled
- Judiciary
- Legislature
Louisiana lawmakers, with judicial backing, launched an important study last year to determine the workload of different courts, an effort aimed at ensuring tax dollars are appropriately spent and different judges aren’t saddled with higher caseloads than their peers.
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06.19.2023
Legislative Compensation
- Legislature
Part 1 of a four-part series addressing public employee compensation in Louisiana.
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06.09.2023
2023 Legislative Session: Breaching the Cap
- Budget & Taxes
- Legislature
Louisiana lawmakers wrapped up their work in a contentious regular session with a chaotic, last-minute flurry of votes on a budget plan that charted spending for the next year, divvied up $2.2 billion in short-term cash and completed the only must-do item for legislators.
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03.28.2023
Legislative Session Trends
- Legislature
In even-numbered years, the regular session is longer. Lawmakers are allowed to file an unlimited number of bills about general state issues but can’t debate most tax issues.
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06.20.2022
Mapping the Future: Session Collapse
- Legislature
- Redistricting
Surprising few, Louisiana’s latest redistricting session turned out to be a flop, more a tense reminder ofthe polarizing and partisan nature of the mapping work than a good-faith effort to comply with a federaljudge’s order requiring new congressional boundary lines. Most legislators seemed to be engaged intheater, performing for judges or their constituents, rather than […]
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06.07.2022
2022 Legislative Session: Focus on Finances
- Budget & Taxes
- Education & Workforce
- Legislature
- Transportation & Infrastructure
Louisiana lawmakers completed a three-month regular session more likely to be remembered for the post-pandemic spending spree, record-setting education increases and significant infrastructure investments than for sweeping policy changes.