Post by pavel on Mar 17, 2016 22:32:14 GMT -6
After secret deal collapses in special session, last-minute changes still causing headaches for budget staffers
At 4 p.m. March 9 — two hours before the special legislative session was to end — a secret deal between the state Senate president, the Louisiana House speaker and two business lobbyists collapsed and threatened to blow up the frenzied effort to eliminate the state’s immediate budget deficit.
A new deal — one that was less favorable to the business interests at the insistence of a Republican lawmaker from Monroe — came together in the final minutes of the session. The House and the Senate then passed two bills that will raise sales taxes while at the same time allowing numerous politically favored industries to avoid those higher taxes.
State budget staffers on Thursday — eight days later — were still grappling with the exact impact of the bills because legislators added the tax breaks so late on the final day of the special session.
“Things were moved in and out,” the Legislature’s chief economist, Greg Albrecht, said in an interview. “The bills were largely rewritten.”
Rewriting the bills has complicated life for Albrecht and the other staffers of the Legislative Fiscal Office, who estimate how much each bill will raise.
Read more: theadvocate.com/news/15225624-78/la-legislative-staffers-sort-out-changes-added-at-the-last-minute
At 4 p.m. March 9 — two hours before the special legislative session was to end — a secret deal between the state Senate president, the Louisiana House speaker and two business lobbyists collapsed and threatened to blow up the frenzied effort to eliminate the state’s immediate budget deficit.
A new deal — one that was less favorable to the business interests at the insistence of a Republican lawmaker from Monroe — came together in the final minutes of the session. The House and the Senate then passed two bills that will raise sales taxes while at the same time allowing numerous politically favored industries to avoid those higher taxes.
State budget staffers on Thursday — eight days later — were still grappling with the exact impact of the bills because legislators added the tax breaks so late on the final day of the special session.
“Things were moved in and out,” the Legislature’s chief economist, Greg Albrecht, said in an interview. “The bills were largely rewritten.”
Rewriting the bills has complicated life for Albrecht and the other staffers of the Legislative Fiscal Office, who estimate how much each bill will raise.
Read more: theadvocate.com/news/15225624-78/la-legislative-staffers-sort-out-changes-added-at-the-last-minute