Back in February the Legislature created the Task Force on Structural Changes in Budget and Tax Policy with the idea that it would make recommendations to the Legislature by September on budget and tax reform. CABL serves on that task force and has been involved with fiscal policy issues dating back at least to the […]

For weeks people from across the state with diverse interests in what goes on in state government have been waiting to see the revisions members of the House budget committee would make to the governor’s executive budget.

There had been some question about how the new 2016 Legislature, bringing with it a number of new faces, would respond  to the onslaught of bills this session attacking many of the state’s most significant education reforms. To some degree the question was understandable. The education committees in both the House and Senate were filled […]

This legislative session a number of high-profile bills dealing with various aspects of public charter schools have been introduced. When the body of that legislation is considered as a whole, the direction it attempts to move Louisiana is clear – away from CABL’s goal of providing meaningful options to parents, students and taxpayers who feel […]

The packet given to members at the first meeting of the Task Force on Structural Changes in Budget and Tax Policy said a lot. Each person got a thick accordion-style pocket folder containing three somewhat recent reports on Louisiana budget and tax policy.  It all but screamed, “been there, done that!” But times change, circumstances […]

There aren’t many cows in Louisiana that have become more sacred than TOPS to a lot of families, but in recent years that ever-popular program has been coming under increased scrutiny. Unlike a number of other programs that have attracted legislative attention, no one is saying there’s anything wrong with it or that there has […]

Any way you slice it, there were a lot of bills filed for the regular session focusing on both K-12 and postsecondary education. For colleges and universities most of the proposals deal with efforts to fix problems – either real or perceived – and give institutions a bit more of a break than they’ve been […]

It’s hard to know just what to make out of the just completed special session and what it all means for the future, but just about any way you size it up, it doesn’t look particularly good. Lawmakers did manage to close all but about $30 million of the $956 million budget shortfall that was […]

With just a few days left in the current special legislative session, it may be too early to give a real assessment of how things turned out, but there are some observations worth making. The first is that going into the eighth straight year of cuts to the state budget finding additional cuts on anywhere […]

It may be one of the most reform-minded bills of the session and one which most people know nothing about. It’s HB 86 by Rep. Walt Leger and its goal is to change behaviors when it comes to state spending in a way that is systemic and forward looking. To understand its intent you have […]