Legislative special session through Jun. 25, 2016

The Second Extraordinary Session of 2016 has concluded, with the following results, none of which were good:

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 35 was signed by the governor; HB 50 passed the Senate, was concurred in by the House, and was sent to the governor;  SB 10 with major amendment passed House committee, passed the House, was rejected by the Senate, had conference report approved by the Senate, and conference report approved by the House.

Legislative regular session through Jun. 25, 2016

While technically the governor still has a bit of time to make veto decisions, as far as relevant bills on the watch list, he has dealt with all of them. Thus, next week in this space will appear the voting scorecard for the 2016 regular session.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 922 was signed by the governor; HB 948 was signed by the governor; HB 1019 was signed by the governor; SB 317 was signed by the governor; SB 406 was signed by the governor; SB 446 was signed by the governor; SB 466 was signed by the governor.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 223 was signed by the governor; HB 805 was signed by the governor.

SCORECARD:
Total number of bills, House: 1167; total number of bills, Senate: 477.

Total number of good bills, House: 84; total number of good bills, Senate: 31.

Total number of bad bills, House: 65; total number of bad bills, Senate: 25.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 53; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 21.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 43; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 20.

Total House good bills passed by House committee: 21; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 11.

Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 13; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 9.

Total House good bills approved by House: 16; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 11.

Total House bad bills approved by House: 8; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 5.

Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 13; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 8.

Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 8; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 4.

Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 10; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 8.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 7; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 3.

Total House good bills approved by Senate: 10; total Senate good bills approved by House: 8.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 7; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 2.

Total House good bills going to governor: 10; total Senate good bills going to governor: 7.

Total House bad bills going to governor: 7; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 2.

Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 10; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 7.

Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 7; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Legislative special session through Jun. 18. 2016

The fun never seems to stop as the second special session doggedly persists. New bills managed to hit one of the lists.

THE BAD: SB 10 by Sen. Rick Ward would foist a non-refunded inventory tax on practically all filers with more than a trivial amount of inventory; SB 13 by Sen. J.P. Morell would repeal deductibility of capital gains for state income tax computation.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 35 passed Senate committee and the Senate; HB 38 with major amendment passed House committee; HB 50 passed the House and with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 10 passed Senate committee and the Senate: SB 13 with minor amendment passed Senate committee

Legislative regular session through Jun. 18. 2016

As the second special session limps along, the dying embers of the regular session remain.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 1155 was signed by the governor; HB 1156 was signed by the governor.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 32 was signed by the governor; HB 1102 was signed by the governor.

Legislative special session through Jun. 12, 2016

And the fun never stops regarding Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards, with his proclamation of yet another special session – one starting a half hour after the regular session that came so quickly only then could legislators file bills. The Log will cover it, but starting with the state of bills as they exist today. As always, budget bills will not be included, but plenty of tax items are.

This leads to some complicated assessments of what is good and bad. For example, Rep. Julie Stokes has a set of bills, including amending the Constitution, that she insists would accomplish revenue neutral tax simplification. However, taken separately, they could provoke either tax cuts or hikes. As they progress, this space will assess them and assign them to a category if need be, depending upon what combination emerges.

THE GOOD: HB 21 by Rep. Gene Reynolds would lower marginal rates on state individual income taxation; HB 64 by Rep. Chris Broadwater would repeal corporate income and franchise taxes and eliminate some refundable tax credits.

Legislative regular session through Jun. 11, 2016

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 922 was sent to the governor; HB 948 was sent to the governor; HB 1019 was sent to the governor; SB 80 was concurred in by the Senate and sent to the Secretary of State; SB 329 was signed by the governor; SB 406 was sent to the governor; SB 446 was sent to the governor; SB 466 was sent to the governor;

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 223 was sent to the governor; HB 266 was signed by the governor; HB 805 had the House and Senate concur in conference and was sent to the governor.

SCORECARD:

Legislative regular session through Jun. 4, 2016

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 606 was signed by the governor; HB 842 was signed by the governor; HB 922 was passed by Senate committee and the Senate and concurred in by the House; HB 948 was concurred in by the Senate; HB 1019 with major amendment passed the Senate and was concurred in by the House; HB 1081 was signed by the governor; HB 1155 passed the Senate and was sent to the governor; HB 1156 was sent to the governor; SB 80 with minor amendment passed the House; SB 317 with minor amendment passed the House, was concurred in by the Senate, and was sent to the governor; SB 329 was sent to the governor; SB 406 passed the House; SB 446 with minor amendment passed the House and was concurred in by the Senate; SB 466 passed House committee and the House; SB 473 failed to gain Senate concurrence.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 32 passed the Senate and was sent to the governor; HB 223 passed the Senate; HB 266 was sent to the governor; HB 805 passed the Senate and failed to gain House concurrence; HB 1102 was sent to the governor; SB 260 was sent to the governor; SB 262 was sent to the governor.

SCORECARD: