With the governor opposed to any net tax increases this session, practically every corner of state government is turning to fees as an avenue to generate additional dollars for the upcoming fiscal year.
The budget for the 2015-16 year has a shortfall of $1.6 billion and spending cuts have become the norm, thus necessitating the push for fees this spring. The session convenes April 13.
Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain, whose department is facing a $5.8 million reduction, said that he will ask lawmakers for the authority to pursue $1.1 million in fee increases.
If the House and Senate agree, Strain will then have to take his appeal to various boards and commissions, which will in turn have to vote to raise the caps on the existing fees they oversee.
“We’re going to be looking at all different kinds of fees,” Strain said. “We’re working with industry right now and they’ve been receptive to this. We’re also going to argue to the Legislature that some of our funds need to be restored.”
Secretary of State Tom Schedler won’t be asking for new fee revenue, but he is seeking legislation that would allow his office to pool existing revenue from election-related fees into a single fund to bankroll voter technology upgrades.
That includes replacing Louisiana’s aging voting machines.
“The process of replacing the large machines we use now with something similar to a television screen or tablet will take several years,” Schedler added.
Additionally, there are at least eight executive departments and agencies proposing $74 million worth of new fees and fee increases this session to close their budget gaps, according to the governor’s budget presentation last month.
If those go into effect, businesses and individuals will be asked to pay more for tax installment agreements, vehicle title certificates, medical window tints, storage facility licenses, ferry toll fares, billboard permits, environmental document processing, pipeline fees, entertainment incentive fees and penalties on late tax payments, among many other government-regulated services and functions.
Fees are also at the heart of the debate over providing funding to higher education.
Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, has introduced House Bill 62, a constitutional amendment that would allow colleges and universities to impose new fees or increase them without seeking approval by the Legislature.
He said the effort is about giving higher education institutions “more stability and control over their budgets.”
The idea may have some momentum. Gov. Bobby Jindal originally proposed having students and parents pay higher fees out of pocket, to be recouped later through a tax credit bankrolled by hiking the cigarette tax.
But the administration proposal has since been refined. The working plan now is to have universities and colleges apply for tax credits on a per student basis using the proceeds from a cigarette tax or another revenue source.