During the 2025 legislative session the Louisiana Legislature made sweeping changes to targeted areas of state law, significantly reorganized key state agencies, and tapped a state savings account and trust funds to spend billions of dollars to fund a long list of key state initiatives. Though this was a session designed to focus largely on […]

In many ways the 2025 Legislative session was one of the most productive in recent years, as lawmakers made sweeping changes to targeted areas of state law and significantly reorganized key state agencies to improve their efficiency and performance. Leaders for a Better Louisiana commends the Legislature for its work, particularly in areas focused on […]

It has been in the news a lot recently: Louisiana has seen historic improvements in education, moving up in national rankings and making progress while other states have faltered. There are a lot of reasons for this, but one of the key strategies the state has utilized in recent years is on the chopping block. […]

There are several bills this legislative session that seek to make changes to the TOPS scholarship program. Some deal with relatively small adjustments to the underutilized TOPS Tech program. But a couple (HB 77 and HB 275) would make significant changes to the more popular TOPS Academic award that close to 15,000 new students access […]

Louisiana has long recognized the need to invest in its workforce. With a shortage of skilled workers and persistent out-migration of young talent, Better Louisiana is advocating a bill this legislative session (House Bill 533) that offers a timely, strategic update to two underutilized tax credit programs—consolidating and enhancing them to better serve students, employers, […]

Today, Leaders for a Better Louisiana released new data detailing where Louisiana stands compared to peer states in terms of the number of high school students participating in internship and apprenticeship programs. The full report is available online here. Generally, the data show that while the number of students participating in work-based learning opportunities has […]

Early voting ends Saturday, March 22. This time around there are four amendments for voters to consider. All of them require a certain amount of homework before you cast your ballot, and we have resources to help. The big item voters are considering for this election is Constitutional Amendment #2. As most have probably heard […]

Early voting starts March 15 and continues through March 22. This time around, voters are being asked to consider four constitutional amendments, including one that’s unlike anything they have ever seen before. It is Amendment #2, a total rewrite of Article VII of the Louisiana Constitution. That’s the longest article in the constitution and one […]

Click Here for Full Analysis & Recommendations for the 2025 Constitutional Amendments Today, Leaders for a Better Louisiana is releasing its analysis and recommendations on the four constitutional amendments on the March 29 ballot. Amendments #1 and #4 deal with changes related to the judiciary. Amendment #3 involves the criminal justice system. But Amendment #2 […]

Legislators continue to dig into the challenging market for property and auto insurance in Louisiana and the topic is expected to be a major focus of the 2025 Legislative Session. For a new data report series for 2025, Leaders for a Better Louisiana collected available information on insurance factors. These may be useful for citizens, […]

For more than 60 years CABL has been a leader in developing, promoting, and protecting policies to move Louisiana forward. Today we are announcing a brand new chapter in that long history that sets the stage for an even more dynamic future. CABL is merging with the Committee of 100 for Economic Development to form […]

Early voting is underway and there are four constitutional amendments on the ballot for the December 7 election. That might not be enough to spur a heavy turnout, but amendments to the constitution are still important. It’s hard to know exactly why lawmakers decided to place only one amendment on the November ballot and save […]

CABL applauds Louisiana lawmakers for approving legislation that, on the whole, makes major improvements in the state’s tax structure. The reductions in the state personal and corporate income tax rates and elimination of the franchise tax will do much to make Louisiana’s tax structure more competitive and position the state as a desirable place for […]

The special session on tax reform just getting underway is a big one. It represents the most significant attempt to rewrite large sections of our tax code that we have seen in years. How successful it will be remains to be seen, but whatever the outcome, this is a debate Louisiana should have. Tax reform […]

RESET Louisiana is a nonpartisan collaboration between the Council for A Better Louisiana, the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and the Committee of 100 for Economic Development. Its goal is to pursue public policy initiatives that will improve the state’s future. As part of this work, RESET hired well-known economist and fiscal expert Greg […]

Early voting starts Friday, October 18 and this is one of those elections where a lot of voters probably don’t know what they don’t know. What does that mean? In many places, there are a lot of items on the ballot. The marquee race this election cycle is pretty self-evident – it’s time to choose […]

It has the feeling of déjà vu. Every time there is talk of a budget shortfall, there’s talk about cuts to higher education. It’s happening yet again, which is unfortunate, since increasing education attainment in Louisiana needs to be one of our top priorities. As of now the state is looking at a potential budget […]

In response to Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to call lawmakers into a special session to debate tax reform, RESET Louisiana has hired well-known economist and fiscal expert Greg Albrecht to conduct an independent analysis of the proposals and determine how they would impact taxpayers. Albrecht worked at the Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office from 1985 until […]

There was a lot of discussion this year about calling a constitutional convention to overhaul Louisiana’s notoriously long, complicated, and overly-prescriptive state constitution. That effort eventually died due to session fatigue and other factors, but lawmakers’ desire to make changes to the constitution was evident in the number of constitutional amendments they filed during this […]

A year ago, the Council for A Better Louisiana started a new initiative to try to put together a comprehensive picture of how Louisiana is doing in important areas. It’s called The Louisiana Fact Book: Facts for the Future. One of the first reactions we got was, “Oh no, another list like all the others […]

The Council for A Better Louisiana’s list of 35 indicators designed to measure the overall wellbeing of Louisiana is trending slightly downward from this time last year. Compared to our release in August of 2023 the state is making progress on just under half of the indicators and losing ground on the same number. A […]

The takeaway from a recent story in the Washington Post is somewhat sobering. While it had earlier appeared that students were on the path to academic recovery after the education disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, new national research suggests that students are, in fact, falling farther behind. In Louisiana, that doesn’t seem to be […]

“So welcome to the jungle.” Those are the words of Revenue Secretary Richard Nelson speaking to lawmakers recently about the fiscal challenges that are just around the corner for Louisiana. While he talked about the difficulties of addressing the significant loss of revenue that will come from the expiration of temporary taxes, he also kicked […]

It’s fair to say the legislative session that just ended had more than its share of twists and turns. Legislation on property insurance passed. The constitutional convention didn’t. Lawmakers decided to forgo putting more than $700 million in a special savings account to spend it instead on a variety of major projects. And some issues […]

“The view that Louisiana’s chief executives have traditionally wielded greater political influence than their counterparts in other states is shared by most, if not all, students of Louisiana history.” That quote is from former governor Edwin Edwards in an article he wrote for the Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association a number of years ago. […]

State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley has unveiled a proposal for a new school and district accountability system for Louisiana schools. It represents a major change from what is in place now, but also a significant improvement. Most people know we have an accountability system for our public schools and have seen stories about the […]

The House of Representatives passed its version of the budget last week, and it included some discouraging cuts for teachers and early childhood education. While the prospects are good that most of that funding will be restored by the Senate, it is unfortunate that the Legislature is sending a disturbing message about the state’s support […]

This year state lawmakers have introduced a series of bills that, if passed, would greatly enhance the power of Louisiana’s governor to make political appointments. In a state where the governor currently makes appointments to hundreds of boards and commissions, the approval of these bills would represent an increase in gubernatorial power that is unprecedented […]

When it comes to education legislation this session, the stars of the show are the proposals to create universal Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) to provide more school choice options for parents. Those bills continue to move through the process, and we will have a more complete look at those shortly. But in the meantime, there […]

As the special session on crime got underway, CABL’s RESET Louisiana partnership with PAR and the Committee of 100 urged lawmakers to make decisions based on data and best practices and not to back pedal on the criminal justice reforms of 2017. During this session lawmakers passed about 20 bills that do a variety of […]

As lawmakers start work in a special session called by Gov. Jeff Landry to address crime, RESET Louisiana urges the House and Senate to make decisions based on data and best practices known to reduce violent crime rather than backpedaling on reform. Protecting citizens is one of the highest priorities of any government. Crime is […]

The Landry administration recently released the reports of its various transition councils and there is a lot to be encouraged about within the pages of their recommendations. While the reports are short on detail, they do provide a framework for the direction the state’s new leadership wants to go and it suggests there are opportunities […]

The short eight-day special session called by Governor Jeff Landry actually ended in a very short five days. It was an ambitious agenda for the first convening of the newly-elected Legislature, but at the end of the day only two bills of consequence passed. From CABL’s perspective, that’s a good thing. There was only one […]

It’s great to hit the ground running, but sometimes things can go too fast. That could be the case with the just-called special session of the Legislature. Governor Jeff Landry began his term as the state’s new chief executive with a bang. It was already understood that there would be a special session in mid-January […]

If it feels like déjà vu, it probably is. After deciding four constitutional amendments in October, voters will now have to weigh in on four more on November 18. Some of these are worth taking a closer look at. In October voters seemed to like what they saw in the offerings for constitutional amendments. All […]

CABL offers congratulations to Governor-elect Jeff Landry and wishes him all the best as he begins to build a new leadership team for Louisiana. As we have said throughout the campaign, Louisiana is at a crossroads and our new governor and Legislature will have much to do as we embark on the next chapter of […]

Louisiana’s primary election is October 14. Early voting is underway and ends Saturday. Voters have a lot of decisions to make and CABL can help. This is a big election for the state, and it’s been a while since there were so many hotly-contested elections for so many statewide offices. There are also a lot […]

Once again CABL is partnering with Louisiana Public Broadcasting to host a statewide televised debate in the Louisiana governor’s race. Tune in tonight at 7:00 p.m. on LPB stations across the state and WYES and WLAE in New Orleans. This will be the final debate before the primary  election, and we will be taking this […]

This fall there are eight constitutional amendments on the ballot for voters to decide, a slight decrease from the 11 amendments on the ballot in 2022. CABL has just released its analysis of the four amendments that voters will consider on October 14. We will be releasing information on the other four in advance of […]

Last week CABL released The Louisiana Fact Book: Facts for the Future. It consists of a series of 35 indicators that provide a snapshot of where Louisiana stands on a broad set of issues. That raises the question: What should we do with them? The first is, we should stop and take a look at […]

Since its founding, CABL has always placed data at the forefront of its public policy work. Over the years, we have produced many resources driven by data that aim to point out our state’s most pressing issues and identify data-driven solutions that help move Louisiana forward.  A popular resource for the first decade of the […]

Qualifying has ended, there is still a little shuffling going on in some races, but for the most part now we know who will be on the ballot for state elections this fall. That means attention should turn to what the candidates are saying about the issues that are most important for the future of […]

It didn’t garner a lot of attention, but a recent study of teacher pay in Louisiana that was presented to a legislative task force looking at teacher recruitment and retention sheds new light on how we compensate educators in Louisiana. Some of the findings were eye opening and should be the starting point for future […]

What just a couple of days ago seemed like a pathway to a smooth landing at the Legislature turned into chaos on the final day as lawmakers approved billions of dollars in spending in the waning minutes of this year’s legislative session. It wasn’t a pretty sight and some of the final spending decisions are […]

The Committee of 100 for Economic Development, the Council for A Better Louisiana and the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana today unveiled their 2023 RESET Louisiana issues initiative for this year’s state elections. The 55 policy recommendations and nine policy briefings focus on four key areas: Enacting tax and spending policies that make sense […]

The state House of Representatives took a novel approach to the budget this year, voting to pay off a large chunk of retirement system debt in lieu of some of the spending recommendations in the plan proposed by the governor. But now the budget is in the Senate where not everyone agrees debt reduction is […]

On Thursday the House of Representatives passed its version of the state budget. In doing so it made major changes to the spending plan proposed by the governor and supported by many in the Senate, setting up a possible showdown in the weeks to come. That, in itself, is nothing particularly new, but this time […]

The 2023 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature is underway, and it should be interesting. There will be a lot of discussion about money because there is a lot of money to spend, but also debate about taxes and other issues around state finances. This is a “fiscal session” which occurs in odd-numbered years. As […]

Teacher pay raises are back in the news. The governor presented his plan to increase salaries for educators. BESE took a slightly different approach. And now, some lawmakers are wondering if everyone is asking for too much. That sets up another interesting discussion on an important topic when the legislative session kicks off next month. […]

The Council for A Better Louisiana and Louisiana Public Broadcasting are partnering once again to host a statewide televised debate in the Louisiana governor’s race. The forum will be held on September 28th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and broadcast across LPB’s statewide network and in the New Orleans metro area through strategic partnerships. […]

It may not feel like it just yet, but 2023 is an election year. So far, most of the attention has focused on who’s running for governor and, just as often, who is not. That will likely sort itself out soon, but once it does, the critical question has to be what the field of […]

CABL has re-elected Shreveport attorney Malcolm Murchison as Chair of the organization for 2023. He will serve on CABL’s Board of Directors along with a slate of officers from across the state, steering the organization in its 61st year of service to Louisiana. “I am honored to serve another term as chair of CABL as […]

Leadership Louisiana will be celebrating it’s 35th anniversary next year, and we send our thanks to The Advocate for helping us kick that off with a great news feature on the program in Sunday’s paper. Yes, 35 years is a long time and that adds up to a diverse group of well over 1,400 alumni […]

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has an opportunity to enact new policies in the state’s accountability system that could dramatically improve the education outcomes of our students. We hope they do it. For the past two years, board members and the state Superintendent of Education have been studying changes to Louisiana’s accountability system. […]

Tomorrow is Election Day, which makes today the best time to arm yourself with information about the eight constitutional amendments on the ballot. In fact, when you get to the polls most voters will find the list of amendments longer than the number of candidates they have to consider. And while the ballot language for […]

Louisiana has seven days of early voting, but it comes to an end today. If you’re still planning to cast your ballot before the 6 p.m. deadline, it’s a good idea to be prepared. This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the ballot. Some are straight forward, several are not, and all have some […]

The long-anticipated results of test scores from “The Nation’s Report Card” on student achievement were just released. It was the first detailed glimpse into how students in each state performed in the areas of reading and math since the pandemic. Scores were expected to tumble, and they did, but for Louisiana there was a silver […]

This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This fall there are 11 constitutional amendments on the ballot for voters to decide. It’s not a record, by any means, but it is still well above what we usually see. Eight will be decided on the November 8 ballot, and three others come up on December 10. As always, these amendments are something we […]

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor has released a report looking at the state’s current and future ability to pay for its transportation needs. While the findings don’t tell us much that we don’t already know – that the revenues we have are insufficient – it’s another wakeup call to remind us that despite a recent influx […]

This week the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met for three days. While they talked about a lot of things, there was a particular focus on various aspects of early learning. Though some of the discussion generated controversy, it’s good this area of education is getting the attention it needs. A significant part of […]

Once again, we got some bad news about the reading proficiency of young students in Louisiana. Since the pandemic, the number of third graders struggling to read has risen precipitously. Today, 41% of them are not reading at grade level, according to the most recent LEAP scores. While not surprising, given the disruptions caused by […]

Louisiana’s latest round of LEAP scores are in and they come with a bit of good news and a reality check that is hard to ignore. Generally, students rebounded slightly from the COVID-related drop that occurred in 2021, but they are still behind their performance levels before the pandemic. The good news out of the […]

It didn’t get a lot of attention, but last week the Biden administration announced plans to open more than 700,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico to commercial offshore windfarms. The area being targeted is in federal waters off Lake Charles and Galveston. While it’s just the beginning of a very long process, it could […]

We recently spotlighted Louisiana’s challenges with teacher shortages and some of the things the Legislature did this year to address the problem. It’s a major issue and CABL recently had the opportunity to dig into it a little deeper in a new podcast from the state Department of Education that is actually both fun and […]

Like almost every other state in the country, Louisiana is facing a critical shortage of teachers. It was happening before the pandemic, but the impact of COVID 19 on schools has only made things worse. This year the Louisiana Legislature took some initial steps to try to address the problem, but this is an issue […]

This year’s legislative session was never billed as an “education” session, as sometimes happens. But as it turns out it was a big one for public education at all levels, especially when it comes to new investments in students and educators. There were more than 170 bills introduced on education this year, more than 10% […]

This week the House Education Committee killed a series of bills that sought to create new state laws governing how public schools teach certain issues surrounding race and gender. Though they never explicitly mention Critical Race Theory, they were widely seen as an effort to ban the use of that concept, even though it is […]

This week BESE had an important discussion about our expectations for students. This one dealt with high school graduation in the world of COVID. The issues at the heart of it are worth considering. Louisiana schools, students, and educators have been through two years of COVID. It closed school early in 2020, caused a shaky […]

A new national survey on public education provides some food for thought for Louisiana. It finds that people across the country believe education is an important priority and they think some major changes are required to improve student achievement. The poll results are reported by the national education reform group The 74, which takes its […]

Until somewhat recently, the coming of another legislative session wasn’t something higher education officials were exactly looking forward to. For a period of nearly a decade beginning around 2008, legislative sessions meant budget cuts. In recent years, that’s begun to change, and this year’s session looks to be another one marked by a return to […]

CABL is pleased to announce its 2022 class of Leadership Louisiana. Through a highly-competitive process, 54 current and emerging leaders from across the state were chosen to participate in this year’s cohort. This marks the program’s 34th year boasting a diverse group of more than 1,400 alumni who are leaders from a cross-section of sectors […]

While the talk of the Capitol these days may be about the Legislature’s override of the governor’s veto of the new congressional districts maps, there is a lot of substantive legislation that’s been introduced this session, particularly in the area of education. This isn’t exactly an “education” session, but there are a lot of significant […]

Overall, this doesn’t look like a legislative session of big new policy proposals, but there are some good ideas emerging and efforts to make meaningful investments in important areas. One that’s getting some positive attention is early education. In the first week of the session lawmakers in the Senate advanced a bill to make permanent […]

The 2022 regular legislative session gets underway Monday and what should citizens expect? Well, perhaps the best way to think about what’s ahead is to take a look back. Even before Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the recently-passed Congressional redistricting maps, the session was already shaping up to be an experience of déjà vu. Now […]

There are a few things everyone knows about redistricting. It happens every 10 years to reflect changes in population. There is a concept called one person, one vote, which basically means every district must have roughly the same number of people in it. And it is a politically-charged process that tends to pit different groups […]

There is a lot of discussion in education circles about dual enrollment – the ability of students to earn college credits while still in high school. Participation in dual enrollment programs in Louisiana has risen in recent years, but it’s still far short of what education leaders would like it to be. A new dual […]

This week Governor John Bel Edwards released his executive budget proposal for the coming year along with his priorities for how to spend billions of federal COVID relief funds and a pile of new state money. At this point the administration is only making recommendations and the Legislature will ultimately decide how the money will […]

The new year brings with it a lot of activity on the political scene. One of the first things out of the chute will be a special session to redraw a host of political districts in Louisiana. It happens every ten years and it’s a process citizens should pay attention to. On the one hand, […]

For years CABL has been involved in state tax policy issues with the goal of making Louisiana more competitive with other states. Over the last couple of decades, we have had both successes and setbacks. But tomorrow we have a chance to approve two constitutional changes that will clearly help move Louisiana forward. Amendment #1 […]

There is a lot of discussion occurring across the country about civics education and social studies. In Louisiana it comes at a time when our social studies standards are being reviewed and updated. What we teach about the history of our country and its strengths and flaws can be a sensitive subject. The good news […]

Early voting starts Saturday. For many people in Louisiana, there are not a lot of high-profile items on the ballot this year, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some important issues for voters to decide. Four constitutional amendments have been placed before voters and two of them deal with some major policy changes. You might […]

Two constitutional amendments on the November ballot represent a rare opportunity to streamline, simplify, and improve Louisiana’s tax structure. They are the product of months of hard work and the kind of compromise and give-and-take that represent government working the way people expect it to. Now, as the election approaches, there are isolated voices raising […]

Back in 1995, CABL was working on an election issues project called The People’s Agenda. It was a citizen-based effort to raise awareness of important issues in the races for governor and the Legislature. As part of that we did our first statewide, televised gubernatorial debates with Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Little did we know then […]

In 2021, the Louisiana Legislature passed nine new constitutional amendments. The good news for voters is that only four of them are on the ballot for this year, though they all deal with issues of substance. Two amendments are part of major tax reforms that policy groups and task forces have been discussing for years. […]

Although decades of research has shown that high-quality preschool education could have a significant impact on school readiness and student achievement in the early years, less was known about the possible benefits through high school. A new CABL study provides the first-ever set of findings that a statewide public Pre-K program can help promote long-term […]

This week the Louisiana Department of Education released its plans for how the state’s school districts should spend the nearly $4 billion in federal relief money coming into the state as a result of the pandemic. About 90% of those revenues will be going to local school districts which were given broad latitude by the […]

The biggest question that surrounded the recently completed school year was not a pleasant one to consider – how much would student scores decline because of the pandemic? State tests were not administered in 2020, so the scores in 2021 would be compared to 2019. Given all the classroom disruptions over the last year it […]

In 2019, CABL partnered with the Public Affairs Research Council and the Committee of 100 for Economic Development, on a unique initiative called RESET Louisiana. It was election year, and the goal was to focus the attention of candidates on four issue areas key to the state’s future: state fiscal policies, transportation infrastructure, education, and […]

The Governmental Research Association (GRA) has awarded its Outstanding Policy Achievement Award to the RESET Louisiana initiative, a collaboration of CABL, the Public Affairs Research Council, and the Committee of 100 for Economic Development. Established in 1914, GRA is a national organization for professionals engaged in governmental research. Its membership includes state-level and metro-area public […]

With the passing of Edwin Edwards this week, Louisiana has lost four former governors in the span of less than two years. Collectively Edwards, Buddy Roemer, Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco governed Louisiana for more than 30 years. Their leadership bridged two centuries and to a large degree marked the end of a type of […]

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that the sweeping transportation bill passed by the Legislature and just signed by the governor isn’t perfect. But there’s also agreement that despite the shortcomings, it represents the state’s largest new investment in infrastructure in almost 40 years. You won’t see big changes overnight, but the new […]

By almost any measure, Louisiana lawmakers took up some weighty issues during the 2021 legislative session. The fact that they weren’t able to accomplish everything to the degree some had hoped at the outset, doesn’t diminish the fact that there were some major accomplishments this year. Even though this was a “fiscal” session of the […]

The story of Buddy Roemer is the story of many who fight for reform. One of passionately embracing policies to make the state better, but running head first into the obstacles of the political status quo. Though he served just one tumultuous term as governor, he made a real difference for Louisiana. History should remember […]

The governor has outlined his plan for spending the first half of a $3.2 billion windfall that will be coming to the state through the federal American Rescue Plan. Recently, members of the House of Representatives have offered up their ideas, too. No final decisions have been made, but there is one notion that continues […]

The major fiscal story of this “fiscal” session of the Legislature has been tax reform. Those bills got off to a fast start and are still in play. But another potentially big issue that had been on the backburner earlier began to move this week. That one deals with transportation and infrastructure. In the months […]

They call this a fiscal session and that was certainly apparent in the first week of the 2021 legislative session. The Legislature’s two tax-writing committees held five meetings between them and advanced a handful of the major tax reform bills of the session. Bills that CABL is watching closely include: HB 199 by House Speaker […]

The legislative session starts this week and it’s a fiscal session in more ways than one. Not only is it that every-other-year session where the focus is mostly on money matters, but it’s one where lawmakers will try to sort out a plan for spending a windfall of federal covid-relief dollars. The combination of those […]

It’s almost hard to comprehend, but from April of 2020 to today the federal government has earmarked roughly $4.6 billion to K-12 education in Louisiana as a response to the COVID pandemic. That’s a lot of cash. Much of it is going to cover or reimburse real-world expenses directly related to the coronavirus. We don’t […]

This year’s legislative session starts in April, and CABL will be working with our RESET Louisiana partners, PAR, and the Committee of 100, on a full legislative agenda. Prior to the session we are highlighting some of the issues we will be focusing on. This time, we look at state fiscal policies.  In 2019, RESET […]

This year’s legislative session starts in April, and CABL will be working with our RESET Louisiana partners PAR and the Committee of 100 on a full legislative agenda. Prior to the session we are highlighting some of the issues we will be focusing on. Here’s a look at higher education. The good news for higher […]

This year’s legislative session starts in April, and CABL will be working with our RESET Louisiana partners PAR and the Committee of 100 on a full legislative agenda. Prior to the session, we are highlighting some of the issues we will be focusing on. This week we look at K-12 education. There may not be […]

Last week Governor John Bel Edwards unveiled his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year. Thanks to another injection of federal dollars, the budget actually shows some growth over the prior year. That amounts to some good news for public education. The increase in revenues the budget envisions is modest – about $186 million in […]

This year’s legislative session starts in April, and CABL will be working with our RESET Louisiana partners PAR and the Committee of 100 on a full legislative agenda. Over the next few weeks, we will highlight some of the issues we will be focusing on, and we begin with early education. There is good news […]

The Tax Foundation, an independent national tax policy organization, recently released a new report on individual income taxes. Its study found that Louisiana’s top income tax rate is higher than what you see in most of the southern and regional states we compete with for jobs. That doesn’t sound encouraging, but as is often the […]

A new publication from the Public Affairs Research Council is one every person interested in Louisiana government should read. Louisiana Constitutional Reform: An Enduring Fiscal Framework takes a comprehensive look under the hood of our constitution and suggests ways to make it better. As the Louisiana Legislature prepares to embark on a legislative session where […]

The Louisiana Department of Education recently released a new roadmap for the future of public education. It includes a list of six major goals, a framework of priorities that reflect the department’s values, and accompanying data that highlight the urgency with which we must work to address Louisiana’s education needs. The summary is only ten […]

This week CABL recognized the achievements of Louisiana Public Broadcasting President & CEO Beth Courtney by presenting her with its fifth annual Robert B. Hamm Award for Distinguished Public Service. The presentation was made virtually at CABL’s  58th Annual Meeting and Conference. The award was inaugurated five years ago in honor of the late CABL […]

The Council for A Better Louisiana (CABL) has elected Tyron Picard of Lafayette to a second term as Chairman of the Board of the organization for 2021. He will lead CABL’s Board of Directors along with a slate of officers from across Louisiana steering the organization in its 59th year of operation. “I am humbled […]

As 2020 draws to a close, we would like to offer our sincere thanks to our members, supporters, sponsors, and friends who make CABL’s work possible. We would particularly like to thank our Champion and Visionary Sponsors who have been tremendous supporters of our mission for a better Louisiana. Despite the impact of COVID-19 on […]

The good news is that the situation doesn’t seem to be serious yet, but the fact is coronavirus cases in Louisiana schools are starting to tick upward in some areas and schools and districts are responding. In most cases the outbreaks are isolated, but it is changing how instruction is being delivered in a number […]

It’s probably more than an irony that the huge voter turnout in Louisiana for last month’s presidential election will likely be followed by a dismal showing at the polls on Saturday. That’s unfortunate because democracy works best when more people participate. The presidential election on November 3 shattered records in Louisiana. Close to a million […]

Early voting for the December 5 runoff election starts tomorrow and continues through November 28. And just when you thought you had voted on all of the constitutional amendments, guess what, there’s one more to take a look at it. Beyond that, there are several notable local and regional runoffs and a big contest to […]

The delivery of education in our schools has changed significantly as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, and the approaches school districts around the state are taking varies in many instances, as well. To help citizens better understand what individual districts are doing CABL has developed a series of school district-level profiles which help reveal […]

Tomorrow is Election Day, and by all accounts Louisiana voters have a strong interest in the outcome. It might seem that interest is more intense this year – and certainly the shattering of early voting records tends to reinforce that idea – but in recent years, voters have consistently turned out in high numbers when […]

There has been much discussion about whether the second special session of the year was needed and, perhaps, even more about what it actually accomplished. That could likely be debated for days. But lawmakers did make some positive steps in several areas, even though much of the session was dominated by a single issue: how […]

In this most unusual of years, let us not forget to do one of our most normal, civic of duties: VOTE.  In Louisiana, early voting for the November 3rd election begins tomorrow, Friday, October 16. It will continue everyday (except Sundays) through October 27. Voters have a full ballot this year: President, U.S. Senator, U.S. […]

This year, besides voting for U.S. president, one U.S. senator, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, various judges and local officials, and the future of sports betting, voters will also have to decide the fate of seven constitutional amendments. While that is nowhere near the record, it is a significant number. Though the amendment […]

Back in 1995, Mike Foster seemed an unlikely candidate making a long-shot bid to lead the state of Louisiana. To most people, he was a big unknown. But he surprised all the “experts” and emerged from a field that included former-governor Buddy Roemer, and future U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, to become a two-term governor who […]

On September 10, Governor John Bel Edwards authorized the state to move into Phase 3 reopening in Louisiana’s continuing response to COVID-19. While that had a significant effect on what many businesses could do in offering services to the public, perhaps nowhere was the impact more profound than in public education. CABL has reviewed school […]

There had been talk of a special session in the fall since early summer, but as recently as a week or so ago, it didn’t seem to be on the immediate horizon. But over the weekend the chatter began picking up and by Monday, the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House had […]

Alumni of CABL’s Leadership Louisiana program are always in the middle of major issues, events, and happenings in Louisiana. That’s true once again in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. It’s unfortunate, but also uplifting. Louisiana happens to be a disaster-prone state, or at least it feels that way to all of us who live here. […]

It seems particularly ironic that just shy of the 15th anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, an even more powerful storm named Laura rammed through the southwest Louisiana coast bringing with it hundreds of miles of devastation. It’s a reminder of how vulnerable we are, but it also showcases many of our strengths. The silver […]

As students return to school for both elementary and secondary classes and higher education, we all know the settings will be much different than any time before. The COVID crisis has led to a wide variety of approaches to instruction that are unprecedented, to say the least. One thing most of them will have in […]

It was discouraging to see that Louisiana’s high school graduation rate fell slightly in 2019 compared to the previous year. The drop wasn’t huge – 1.3 percentage points – and our graduation rate remains above 80-percent, which is a milestone Louisiana cracked for only the first time in 2018. But it sends a message that […]

For months we have shown support for the essential workers who have been at the frontline of protecting us or keeping our economy running during the COVID-19 crisis. Whether it’s health care workers, grocery clerks, or those who help transport people and goods, there have been various efforts to show public appreciation to people with […]

On any given day when you open the home page of the Washington Post, readers are greeted with a graphic that should give every citizen in Louisiana pause. It’s a chart that shows the five states with the highest daily reported cases of COVID-19 on a per capita basis. Over the course of the last […]

There is suddenly a lot of discussion going on at the national level about the reopening of schools in the fall. While it’s gotten a good deal of media attention, it may be something of a moot point since those kinds of decisions are typically made at the state or local level. Here in Louisiana, […]

In many ways, this special session was always going to be about two major issues: 1) passing a budget for the new fiscal year, and 2) passing legislation to change civil litigation laws, or “tort reform,” as it’s often called. And throw in some efforts to add, extend, and sweeten various tax credit and incentive […]

This is an extraordinary time. For the last few months people across the state and across the country have been struggling to cope with the spread of the COVID virus. In the midst of that, events from places far from Louisiana have forced us all to confront the issue of racial injustice in ways that […]

Going into the 2020 Legislative Session there were thoughts it would be a fairly significant one for education at all levels. Those hopes were dashed rather quickly with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Now that the session has ended, it might not have gone totally as expected, but there were some positive outcomes to […]

The COVID-19 crisis has dashed Louisiana’s economy, crippled many businesses, and disrupted the lives of every citizen of our state. It has also had a significant impact on all aspects of education. There are many things education and school leaders are doing to address the issues facing our students in this unprecedented time. CABL has […]

The COVID-19 crisis has dashed Louisiana’s economy, crippled many businesses, and disrupted the lives of every citizen of our state. It has also had a significant impact on all aspects of education. There are many things education and school leaders are doing to address the issues facing our students in this unprecedented time. CABL has […]

The COVID-19 crisis has dashed Louisiana’s economy, crippled many businesses, and disrupted the lives of every citizen of our state. It has also had a significant impact on all aspects of education. There are many things education and school leaders are doing to address the issues facing our students in this unprecedented time. CABL has […]

More than six weeks after the governor ordered school closures across the state in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of education in Louisiana is far from clear. While Governor Edwards emphasized that instruction during the closure should continue, it is virtually impossible to know to what degree that is happening and how much […]

For almost 60 years CABL’s mission has been to focus on issues in the public interest with a single goal in mind: to make Louisiana a better place for all of its citizens. We have been able to do that, only because of the generous support of hundreds of individuals, businesses, and private foundations that […]

“Government watchdogs look to refocus Louisiana’s campaign conversation with RESET proposals.” (The Advocate) “Reform groups prepare to RESET Louisiana’s long-term priorities.” (Gambit) “Tired of being 50th? RESET Louisiana sets path out of cellar.” (USA Today Network) In many ways, the headlines say it all. RESET Louisiana is a nonpartisan election initiative of CABL, the Public […]

On behalf of CABL we would like to thank you for your service to our state. We know that these have been difficult times over the last several years as you have tried to enact budget and fiscal policies to move Louisiana in a positive direction. We appreciate your efforts. Unfortunately, it appears we will […]

This year there are three constitutional amendments on the October 14 ballot. CABL has researched and analyzed the amendments and offers our recommendations to voters. Don’t forget, early voting runs from September 30 – October 7. Amendment # 1 Property Tax Exemption for Construction Materials This amendment provides an exemption from local property taxes for […]

With the 2017 legislative session and all its turmoil behind us, it is fair, yet unfortunate, to say Louisiana missed an opportunity to turn an important corner and move our state forward. For close to a decade Louisiana has been battling a structural budget deficit which has led to three credit downgrades, deep reductions in […]

There was basically only one thing lawmakers really had to do during the 2017 legislative session. They had to pass the budgets that fund the state’s operations and construction projects. There were also some things they really needed to do, such as avoid the coming fiscal cliff, fix our broken tax structure, and begin to […]

The Council for A Better Louisiana has invited five candidates to participate in the upcoming U.S. Senate debate sponsored by CABL and broadcast statewide by Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

The recent floods in south Louisiana have been devastating to tens of thousands of people. Among those hit hard are many thousands of educators and parents of school-age kids.

During this time of crisis in Louisiana, CABL would like to share the following flood recovery documents.

Louisiana Lawmakers opened their marathon series of legislative sessions on Valentine’s Day. Now, approaching the Fourth of July, they have finally gone home.

In 2010 when Louisiana adopted a set of academic standards in English and math no one even noticed. At the time they were called Common Core and developed by a consortium of states, including Louisiana, and no one seemed to care.