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. […]