Despite Louisiana’s looming fiscal crisis, lawmakers are filing literally hundreds of bills for the upcoming regular session that will serve as both a distraction and a welcomed — albeit temporary — reprieve from the economic doom and gloom. This is an even-numbered year, which means no tax proposals are allowed and lawmakers can file as many non-tax bills as they want.
It’s a perk they’re taking advantage of to the tune of 388 bills in the House and 66 in Senate as of this past weekend. “We’re going to end up with more bills than we did in the regular session two years ago,” says House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers. “That could possibly be problematic because we won’t have any money for new programs, no matter how good they are.”
Two years ago, there were 1,389 bills introduced in the House and 813 in the Senate; in 2006, there were 2,159 bills total; and in 2004, the first time the even-numbered system took effect, there were 2,604 bills filed for consideration.
The regular session that begins March 29 will also give way to a debate over the odd-numbered years as well, courtesy of Rep. Dee Richard, I-Thibodaux. His House Bill 171 is a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit non-fiscal matters from being considered during sessions in odd-numbered years, when tax legislation is allowed.
If lawmakers approve Richard’s bill, voters will weigh in on the matter on the Nov. 2 ballot. For now, however, lawmakers are more concerned with the even-numbered session that convenes in just two weeks.
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , March 15, 2010 - 08:09 pm
THESE STATE MISALIGNED LEGISLATORS MUST USE THESE SESSIONS TO BECOME ACQUAINTED, AND RENEW OLD FRIENDSHIPS WITH THE NEW AND STAGNATED OLD BLUE HAIRED CROP OF LOBBYISTS SLICKSTERS..........OH AND THE STATE FURNISHED LUNCHES, AND THE GENTLEMENS CLUBS, WHICH THRIVE IN BATON ROUGE, WHEN THE LEGISTRATURE IS IN SESSION...ANYWAY ,THATS WHAT ITS CALLED..............
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JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to offer shares of its stock to the public for the first time.
The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.
Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.
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