Post by Logan on Jun 13, 2016 3:05:31 GMT -6
This couldn’t have been the best tone to start a contentious special session on taxes.
The House’s refusal to pass a multibillion-dollar state construction budget in the final minutes of the regular legislative session started the tax session off minutes later with an air of distrust and resentment between the House and the Senate, and even between rank-and-file House members and some of their leaders.
“In my 22 years here, I’ve never seen the level of distrust between the House and Senate that I see,” said state Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Kenner, a former House member.
The meltdown over the construction budget, known as the capital outlay bill, followed disagreements that marked the end of a special session earlier this year. In that earlier session, senators complained they were jammed in last-minute haggling over sales tax bills and barely knew what they were passing in the final frenzied minutes of the session.
The capital outlay bill is critical to doing highway improvements, economic development projects, college construction, building repairs and other work around the state. To keep projects from stalling, lawmakers need to have a new construction budget approved by July 1.
Read more: theadvocate.com/news/opinion/16064733-55/house-senate-tensions-high-in-tax-special-session
The House’s refusal to pass a multibillion-dollar state construction budget in the final minutes of the regular legislative session started the tax session off minutes later with an air of distrust and resentment between the House and the Senate, and even between rank-and-file House members and some of their leaders.
“In my 22 years here, I’ve never seen the level of distrust between the House and Senate that I see,” said state Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Kenner, a former House member.
The meltdown over the construction budget, known as the capital outlay bill, followed disagreements that marked the end of a special session earlier this year. In that earlier session, senators complained they were jammed in last-minute haggling over sales tax bills and barely knew what they were passing in the final frenzied minutes of the session.
The capital outlay bill is critical to doing highway improvements, economic development projects, college construction, building repairs and other work around the state. To keep projects from stalling, lawmakers need to have a new construction budget approved by July 1.
Read more: theadvocate.com/news/opinion/16064733-55/house-senate-tensions-high-in-tax-special-session