For the second time in less than a week an independent national organization has praised the education improvement plan Louisiana submitted to the federal government as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) passed by Congress in 2015. ESSA provides states with new flexibility to chart their own paths for educational improvement, but it […]
If the just-completed legislative sessions tell us anything about where we stand right now, it’s that Louisiana’s fiscal future is anything but certain. On the downside, that’s not where CABL or a lot of others wanted us to be right now, but looking at the glass half full we still have time to figure things […]
Whatever happens in terms of revenue during the current special session, it seems like higher education is going to end up on the short end of the stick again. At least that’s what it feels like right now. The Legislature has revenue measures still in play that would restore around half of the $600 million […]
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 […]
With the 2017 legislative session winding down, it’s hard for those who wanted to permanently fix Louisiana’s uncertain fiscal situation to view the session with anything but disappointment. That’s especially true since it’s all but certain this session will end June 8 with another special session on the horizon to deal with issues that went […]
Back in 1999, Louisiana embarked on a process to create a vision for the state with a focus on economic development. It was called Vision 2020 and it laid out a master plan based on priorities that would move Louisiana forward. It’s notable that in analyzing the state’s “weaknesses” at the time it highlighted “a […]
This week the House Ways & Means Committee moved on a host of bills dealing with revenues after two days and many hours of discussion. It was a positive and necessary step for those who favor comprehensive tax reform, but whether it really means much of anything is uncertain. The bills run a pretty wide […]
With the 2017 legislative session reaching the halfway point, the House of Representatives has sent a budget to the Senate that is sure to get a lot of scrutiny, if not outright revision. In doing so the House chose not to appropriate the full amount of available revenues, voting instead to budget only 97.5-percent of […]
Now that action has been taken with regard to the governor’s Commercial Activity Tax proposal, it is time to take the next step and move forward with other ideas, during this session, to address the fiscal issues that have troubled Louisiana over the last several years. Key to that is a tax structure that is […]
