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The release of Gov. Jeff Landry’s budget proposal to lawmakers came with a cloud of uncertainty. A combination of unanswered questions about state and federal financing sources is driving unpredictability for piecing together the spending plans for the 2025-26 fiscal year that begins July 1.
Louisiana’s governor and lawmakers will get to sidestep debates over whether to make steep budget cuts next year thanks to the tax changes they adopted last month.
Voters have adopted 221 changes to the Louisiana Constitution since its ratification 50 years ago, a total that grew with the November and December elections. Nearly 69% of the 321 amendments posed to voters across those decades have won passage.
Louisiana lawmakers embraced much of the tax rewrite package sought by Gov. Jeff Landry in the just-ended special session, agreeing to lower and flatten income tax rates in exchange for new sales tax charges.
Louisiana has enjoyed repeated state surpluses for the last seven years, and the latest calculations estimate lawmakers will see that trend continue another year. A surplus occurs when a state’s revenue collections exceed its spending within a budget year.
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) […]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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