Floor action, Apr. 30: State of the State address

DID YOU KNOW?
Gov. Kathleen Blanco gave her State of the Sate address. For commentary, see here.

(Note: to remind of the convention used, if more than one similar bill is on an agenda, only the bill primarily identified as “Good” or “Bad” will be listed)

TUESDAY: HB 43 and HB 53, are scheduled to be heard by the House Ways and Means Committee; SB 48 and SB 127 are scheduled to be heard by the Senate Retirement Committee.

WEDNESDAY: HB 248, HB 575, and HB 619 are scheduled to be heard by the House and Governmental Affairs Committee; HB 25 is scheduled to be heard by the House Health and Welfare Committee. SB 195 is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Insurance Committee; SB 320 is scheduled to be heard by the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -- Prefiled bills though April

Well, practically since pre-filing is over tonight Apr. 20 (good: only as many 720 new future bills to go), so let’s see what has been sprung on the Legislature for the regular session:

THE GOOD: HB 154 by Rep. Hollis Downs would redirect sales tax money coming from activities related to transportation actually to be used for transportation capital improvements (similar bills: HB 648, HB 661, SB 258, SB 260). HB 171 by Rep. Kay Katz would eliminate corporate franchise taxes which would spur economic development (similar bills: HB 663, HB 768). HB 228 by Rep. Steve Scalise would create a more accurate way of measuring the maximum expenditure amount permitted to the state without extraordinary procedures. HB 248 by Rep. Glenn Ansardi would reduce voting hours by two to make elections more workable (similar bill: HB 768). HB 266 by Rep. Blade Morrish would create stronger oversight of recipients of appropriations that do not come through the executive budget. HB 279 by Rep. Gary Beard would create tax policy that provides disincentives for divorce. HB 436 by Rep. Danny Martiny will bring increased rationality to the organization and funding of indigent defense in Louisiana. HB 444 by Rep. Tim Burns will provide incentives for individual rather than state responsibility for health insurance. HB 474 by Rep. Charlie Lancaster strengthens ballot and private security regarding elections. HB 486 by Rep. Jim Fannin would reduce costs to homeowners regarding compliance with the states building code in areas that do not require meeting some of its standards. HB 576 by Rep. Jim Tucker would rid the state of its intervention into markets by forcing retail sale of ethanol and bio-fuels. HB 598 by Rep. Mike Powell would provide for more accurate testing of school accountability by ensuring standardized tests are given near the end of the school year. HB 614 by Beard prohibits partial-birth abortion, complementing federal law (similar bill: SB 161). HB 623 by Scalise would enhance educational quality by setting up a school voucher program (similar bill: HB 731). HB 733 by Rep. Joel Robideaux would tighten disclosure requirements for lobbyists (similar bill: SB 163). HB 804 by Scalise would establish a child tax credit used only in the case where taxes actually must be paid. HB 836 by Burns would encourage investment by making that income tax free.

SB 48 by Sen. Walter Boasso would establish a means to force the state to begin to pay down its largest unfunded accrued liabilities in its pension funds. SB 51 by Sen. Julie Quinn would limit governing authorities from unilaterally increasing tax millages that become possible through reassessment beyond the rate of inflation without voter approval (similar bills: HB 306, HB 530). SB 52 by Sen. Mike Michot would redirect sales taxes related to transportation to transportation projects. SB 98 by Sen. Tom Schedler would facilitate a shift away from institutional to community-based long-term care saving the state money. SB 126 by Sen. Max Malone would amend the Constitution to close a loophole which allows state pardons to be used for federal felonies in determining eligibility to run for elective office (similar bill: SB 145). SB 127 by Boasso would amend the Constitution to put retirement systems on more stable financial footing. SB 174 by Sen. Robert Adley would create a more comprehensible capital budgeting outlay process. SB 185 by Quinn would lower insurance rates by abolishing the Louisiana Insurance Rating Commission (similar bills: HB 561 HB 724 HB 860). SB 195 by Sen. James David Cain would privatize the state-owned insurer.

(Similar bills to HB 23: HB 207, HB 289, HB 291, HB 363, HB 364, HB 365, HB 418, HB 419, HB 445, HB 448, HB 533, HB 550, HB 581, SB 64, SB 66, SB 81. Similar bills to HB 48: HB 421, HB 449, HB 700. Similar bills to HB 53: HB 529, HB 608, HB 667. Similar bills to HB 86: HB 130, HB 268, HB 357, HB 508, HB 714, Similar bills to HB 138: HB 597, SB 157. Similar bill to HB 228: HB 492. Similar bill to SB 28: SB 43.)

THE BAD: HB 214 by Rep. Rick Farrar would encourage the state of Louisiana to dive deeper into the insurance business and discourage competition (similar bills: HB 528, HB 782, HB 825). HB 273 by Rep. Eric LaFleur would make it easier for candidates to report sources of campaign contributions if they largely self-fund their candidacies. HB 362 by Rep. Taylor Townsend would amend the Constitution to make it more difficult for state government to cut taxes. HB 407 by Rep. Karen Carter would allow continuing the stealth fee for litter removal on drivers’ licenses. HB 461 by Rep. Rick Gallot would reduce school safety and infringe on Second Amendment rights. HB 480 by Rep. Damon Baldone would make the state income tax even more progressive and reduce state revenues by exempting the lowest-level current filers. HB 518 by Rep. William Daniel IV would facilitate wasteful use of long-term care monies by repealing early the moratorium on nursing home bed space provision even as too many remain in circulation. HB 575 by Rep. Juan LaFonta would dramatically increase costs of state elections by soliciting absentee/early ballots rather than relying on registered voters to request them. HB 619 by Jalila Jefferson-Bullock would continue unnecessary loosening of ballot security laws at state expense. HB 731 by Farrar would give a regular schedule of salary raises to elected judges regardless of the actual change in cost of living. HB 822 by Cedric Richmond would prematurely return schools from the Recovery School District to the Orleans Parish School District. SB 203 by Sen. Ben Nevers would get the state more deeply involved in insurance by creating a catastrophic fund (similar bill: SB 276). SB 295 by Sen. Derrick Shepherd would pay Senators and legislative assistants full-time salaries for jobs defined in the state Constitution as part-time. SB 309 by Sen. Joel Chaisson would amend then Constitution to allow the state to take on more debt. SB 320 by Sen. Charles Jones would create lax standards allowing for election-day voting and registering that invite fraud (similar bill: SB 225).

THE UGLY: HB 287 by Rep. Billy Montgomery would create a tax break for certain barge line, towing, and other water transportation companies; what justifies this? His HB 591 carves out an exception to general firefighter civil service laws that makes some promotions in Bossier City noncompetitive, and others determined only by an initial evaluative period of just two years; again, why?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -- Prefiled bills though March

Pre-filing of bills continue, so let’s see what we’ve gotten a month out from the session’s start:

THE GOOD: HB 48 by Rep. Steve Scalise would eliminate the corporate franchise tax on debt – Louisiana is the only state that retains this sapper of economic initiative (similar bills: HB 52). HB 53 by Rep. Hunter Greene repeals the gift tax, granting more choice to individuals in how to utilize their assets (similar bill: HB 42). HB 86 by Rep. Dan Morrish will accelerate the elimination of sales tax on utilities (similar bill: HB 115). HB 113 by Rep. Mike Powell provides for more severe sentencing of criminals who commit a series of petty thefts that singly carry little in the way of punishment and extends the reach of the law to middlemen. HB 138 by Rep. Carl Crane brings about greater disclosure of legislator incomes. SB 22 by Sen. Walter Boasso would make it easier to recall elected officials. SB 28 by Sen. Max Malone would eliminate personal, corporate, trust, and estate income taxes (similar bills: SB 18, SB 29, SB 30, SB 35).

(Similar bills to HB 23: HB 54, HB 78, SB 20)

THE BAD: HB 119 by Rep. Willie Hunter would establish a job-killing state minimum wage above the current federal level. His HB 158 tries to establish comparable worth, the idea that government estimations rather than the marketplace should determine wages, as state labor policy. SB 40 by Sen. Cleo Fields would weaken ethics laws in regards to legislators.

THE UGLY: HB 50 by Rep. John Alario corrects an error from the previous session that does not allow for any surplus fund balances to be transferred over to the next fiscal year.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -- Prefiled bills though February

Welcome to the impending 2007 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature. Pre-filing of bills has been happening for about a month, so let’s see what good, bad, and ugly legislation has been proposed. As always, any bills that are similar to ones listed will be acknowledged, but not separately analyzed.

THE GOOD: HB 15 by Rep. A. G. Crowe would provide a tax credit for homeowners whose primary residence is damaged as a consequence of a named tropical storm or hurricane. HB 23 by Rep. Pete Schenider would return certain individual income tax rates and brackets to those in effect prior to the Stelly Plan and reinstates the excess federal itemized deduction (similar bills: HB 16, 17, 30, 35, 36, 38, 39, 45; SB 4, SB 10, SB 11, SB 13). HB 25 by Crowe would mandate more information be provided to women contemplating abortions.

THE BAD: SB 1 by Sen. Joe McPherson would lock Louisiana more firmly than ever into its existing failing indigent health care system. SB 14 by Pres. Don Hines would emasculate the oversight authority of the State Bond Commission.

Floor action, Dec. 15: HB 52, HB 120, HB 59

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 52 would create a fund in which to dump money to be used for economic development purposes. As its Senate handler Sen. Jody Amedee emphasized, no money that would violate the state’s spending cap would be put into it, it would probably come from the general fund, and it could create many high-paying jobs. Sen. Rob Marionneuax, however, wanted to know if additional money would be required from the state, which Amedee didn’t exactly know, as he thought it could be a billion dollars more the state would have to commit besides this $300 million. Marrioneuax also thought too much trust was being asked of the state with too much uncertainty in its return, and wondered how much the land was really worth.

Sen. Pres. Don Hines said he knew of another project where all sorts of feasibility studies and information had to be provided before the state invested in it. “We ought to be consistent,” he argued, implying the sugar mill he had backed a couple of weeks earlier should have gotten such easy treatment as this proposal seemed to be getting. Amedee confessed he didn’t know a whole lot about the project in terms of what would happen after the state bought the land and prepared it. Sen. Charles Jones pointed out that much information could not be made public because of competitive reasons to get the project for which the bill was designed.

Sen. Walter Boasso proposed an amendment to cap the fund at $300 million and basically would apply only to the project being recruited. It passed without objection.

Marionneaux said despite confidentiality, surely some financial statements could be worked up about the project. He said this giveaway to a foreign firm was inappropriate given that citizens in the state needed assistance and yet the Legislature didn’t seem willing to provide it. He argued that others had to be content with tax credits, so why should this firm merit any additional help? Sen. Chris Ullo said the benefits would be clear enough without exact figures.

Marionneaux then sent up an amendment that said if the plant did not come to the state, the money would be divided up to give pay raises to various groups. Sen. Art Lentini (Senate parliamentarian) pointed out that the multiple purpose of the bill would violate the Constitution, since it is not a general appropriation. Marionneaux said he knew of past bills of this format which had not been ruled unconstitutional, but he said he would not object to dividing the bill. Se. Robert Barham noted that if the amendment went through and it took awhile for the mill to make a decision, then the raises could go through in addition to the site expenditure if the firm decided to come. It ended up being defeated 12-23.

Amedee said he appreciated what Marionneaux had tried to do for state employees, but those measures could be dealt with in the future and even applied retroactively, but this measure had to be dealt with now in order to have any shot at landing the project. The bill passed 31-4.

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 120 would provide tax credits to those who had to pay excess insurance assessments to bail out the state insurer. Sen. Ken Hollis wondered how expensive it would be to send out some checks, as some monies will be due to people who do not have income tax liability. Handler Sen. Willie Mount didn’t think the costs would be as high as Hollis had heard, even if it was more complicated because it would have to be calculated on a parish-by-parish basis.

Sen. Gerald Theunissen wanted to know why the “noncompetition factor assessment” was now included, pointing out that the bill now would refund past payments now required by law for those who were insured by the state insurer that they are required to pay, a 10 percent surcharge of the market rate. He said it would be better to tackle that issue in the regular session, not as part of this bill.

Sen. Julie Quinn proposed to get rid of that amendment, saying more time was needed to study that surcharge issue. But the author of the amendment added Sen. Nick Gautreuax said too few companies were writing policies necessitating the existence of the surcharge, so relief should be now and he promised if the amendment passed he would bring the issue back up in regular session. It passed with objection, and the bill passed 35-0.

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 59 would extend a $125 tax credit to each qualifying child to any family, regardless of whether a head of household had any income tax liability, and also provides a 2 percent credit on medical expenses, casualty losses, charitable donations, and home mortgage expenses. Barham asked for a ruling about whether the addition of the 2 percent credit would push the bill over $500,000 in impact, requiring referral to the Finance Committee. Pres. Hines ruled against it, saying the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee had sufficient authority to deal with this matter.

Sen. Robert Adley, who had added the 2 percent credit, pleaded with the Senate to pass it even if they were not fans of other parts of the bill. He said it was like a pay raise for everybody. Sen. Diana Bajoie wondered whether this would disproportionately help people at higher income levels, but Adley said anybody who paid taxes would be helped by this part of the bill. He pointed out that since it was 2 percent, it would provide a direct offset to the payers in the lowest bracket, but only half at the 4 percent bracket, and just a third at the 6 percent level. Hollis pointed out that the language exactly duplicated other bills introduced this session once supported by the governor.

After Adley concluded, Hollis then asked for an adjournment sine die until the regular session (after being corrected in its format by Sen. Cleo Fields). His motion failed 12-22.

Bajoie said she just couldn’t support it, more out of protest with other things she said were being ignored, even with the credit, saying it wasn’t a fair choice and hoped the handler Sen. Lydia Jackson would withdraw it. After a clarifying amendment by Sen. Noble Ellington was adopted without objection, Jackson closed, pointing out they were debating income tax credits appealing to a wide spectrum of taxpayers. Even though some would be going to non-taxpayers, she argued that a boost in sales taxes was supporting the extra revenue forgone, paid by many who don’t pay income taxes. The bill passed 28-6.

DID YOU KNOW:
The House concurred with HB 52 and HB 120. But it then adjourned sine die without making a decision on HB 59, thereby killing it, by a vote of 49-42.

QUOTES OF THE DAY:
I supported your syrup mill.
I wish you were governor.
Hines to Amedee during the HB 52 debate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 120 passed House committee, the House, Senate committee amended, the Senate amended, and the House concurred.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 59 passed House committee amended, the House, Senate committee amended, and the Senate amended.

SCORECARD:
I’m going to dispense with this because the above two bills are the only important ones that even made it to the floor of either house. And thus closes the 2006 legislative year.