Senate begins to chart its path on tax changes and budget
MELINDA DESLATTE, Associated Press
WikimediaBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s senators have started piecing together their proposal to balance next year’s budget without forcing deep cuts to public colleges and health services, building off a package of House tax bills.
The Senate Finance Committee late Tuesday tweaked and then, without objection, passed eight House-approved tax bills aimed at raising revenue for next year’s $24 billion budget.
As passed by the House, the bills would generate $615 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, nearly all of it used to stop cuts to higher education campuses.
Committee Chairman Jack Donahue said senators were trying to drum up $250 million more to keep health care services and the LSU medical schools from steep reductions. Senators got at least $100 million more by bumping up a cigarette tax proposal.
Two other tax bills were scheduled for Wednesday hearings in the Senate committee.
As the measures approved Tuesday head to the full Senate for consideration, the proposals would scale back state subsidies for businesses and raise the state cigarette tax by 64 cents a pack. Most state tax credits would take a 28 percent across-the-board cut.
“I’ve made some really hard votes here on this committee tonight,” said Sen. Ronnie Johns, R-Lake Charles.
Business groups opposed many of the measures as hefty tax hikes, saying they could jeopardize deals in the works and threaten the financial health of existing companies.
“You’re decreasing our ability to attract jobs and new investment,” Rhonda Reap-Curiel, legislative chair of the Louisiana Industrial Development Executives Association, said of one measure.
Representatives of companies and business lobbying groups objected to bill after bill, though they acknowledged they were unlikely to stall the proposals as lawmakers struggle to balance the budget.
As she objected to one proposal, Reap-Curiel said: “I’m sure I’m wasting my breath.”
“There’s been a lot of breath wasted here tonight. Go on,” replied Donahue, R-Mandeville.
Among the largest adjustments made by the Finance Committee was a rewrite of the cigarette tax bill. The House agreed to a 32-cent a pack tax increase. Senators doubled that increase and added in new tax hikes on cigars, smokeless tobacco and electronic cigarettes.
As rewritten, the cigarette tax bill would raise $170 million a year, $102 million more than the House version. Louisiana would charge a $1 tax per pack of cigarettes, up from 36 cents.
Other bills advanced by the Senate committee include the temporary suspension of a 1-cent sales tax exemption on business utilities and limits on the tax credit Louisiana residents can take for income taxes paid to another state.
House-approved proposals to scale back the state’s solar tax credit and to enact a $200 million cap on the film tax credits Louisiana certifies each year were scheduled for a Wednesday hearing.
Several measures don’t meet Gov. Bobby Jindal’s parameters of what tax changes he’s willing to consider. The Republican governor, who is building a likely presidential campaign, won’t agree to anything considered a net tax increase by national anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. Lawmakers are looking for loopholes to avoid a veto of the financing plans.
Ban on billing rape victims for exams passed by Legislature
BRIAN SLODYSKO, Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The commonplace practice of billing rape victims in Louisiana for medical exams should come to an end after state lawmakers Tuesday signed off on proposed law changes that the federal government has required for a decade.
“Ten years ago they identified that there was this particular problem,” said Rep. Helena Moreno, D-New Orleans, who sponsored the legislation as well as a companion proposal that reimburses hospitals with unclaimed gambling winnings.
But until recently nothing of consequence was done, Moreno said.
Now, both her proposals are headed to Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal after receiving final legislative passage with two unanimous House votes Tuesday. Jindal supports the measures and is expected to sign them into law.
Moreno credited several rape victims who came forward over the past year, publicizing thousands of dollars in medical bills they received. Some displayed their bills in legislative committees while delivering moving testimony.
“Without them coming forward, who knows how much longer this would have persisted?” Moreno said.
Billing rape victims for a forensic exam is forbidden by the Violence Against Women Act and many states are compliant with the law, experts say. Still, anecdotal reports of local hospitals and authorities billing women persist across the country, said Rebecca O’Connor, a policy expert for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, a victims advocacy group.
Rape victims have reported receiving bills in Illinois, Nevada and Ohio, O’Connor said. But Louisiana is an “extreme” case, she said.
Here, parishes have refused to pay for victims’ medical exams unless they are willing to report their assault to authorities. Authorities in some parishes have also reportedly administered lie detector tests to victims.
Those practices should come to an end under the changes.
One of Moreno’s bills requires local authorities to develop clear guidelines for gathering forensic evidence, storing it and submitting it for DNA testing.
It would allow health care providers to seek reimbursement from the state crime victims board for the cost of gathering DNA evidence, screening for sexually transmitted diseases and offering pregnancy testing. Hospitals would be allowed to bill a victim’s insurance company with the victim’s permission, but insurers couldn’t require a victim to pay a deductible, co-pay or other share of the costs.
The measures are part of a package of legislation sponsored by Moreno and Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, that is intended to improve the way sexual assaults are handled in Louisiana. Also headed to Jindal after winning final passage from the state Senate on Tuesday was Morrell’s bill requiring police to have improved sexual assault training.
Constitutional Convention ‘wish’ declined
A resolution calling for a states’ convention that could alter the U.S. Constitution was shot down by a Senate committee Tuesday amid fear it would create a “nightmare” that could dramatically change the country’s primary legal document.
The resolution brought by Rep. Ray Garofalo, R Chalmette, previously passed the House, but was voted down by the Senate legal committee, 4-3.
Garofalo said he brought the measure (House Concurrent Resolution 2) because the federal government is “spending our children’s money and our grandchildren’s money for generations to come with no restraint at all.”
If approved, the resolution would signal Louisiana’s willingness to participate in a convention of states, to deliberate on amending the Constitution to limit federal power, impose federal spending restraints and enact term limits for federal officials.
Four other states have passed similar resolutions, Garofalo said. He said the Constitution could be amended if 34 states agree, a convention is held and three-fourths of U.S. states ratify proposed changes.
Constitutional scholars disagree over whether the proposal could be implemented. The measure drew opposition from conservatives and liberals alike who suggested it could turn into a free-for-all, threatening existing rights and protections.
“It would be a nightmare,” said Sandy McDade of the conservative Eagle Forum. “There’s no way to know what would happen.”
Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, questioned why a state lawmaker was concerned with federal issues when the Legislature is approaching the end of its regular session without a budget agreement in place.
Drones OK’d for ag
A measure that will allow farmers to use drones as long as they get an operator’s license received final legislative passage with a 39-0 Senate vote Tuesday.
Anyone who wants to get a three-year farm drone license will have to take a safety class, and drone use will be restricted to the confines of one’s property.
Louisiana’s agriculture commissioner will be given authority to monitor drone use for farming. The state will be able to issue a fine up to $500 to anyone who uses a drone without a license or violates the rules.
The bill (Senate Bill 183) by Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, moves next to the governor’s desk.
Financial reporting rules could be eased for minor boards
Lawmakers on the House ethics committee agreed Tuesday that volunteers for minor boards and commissions shouldn’t have to follow state ethics rules that require the annual disclosure of financial information.
A proposal (Senate Bill 87) by Sen. Jonathan Perry, R-Kaplan, nearing final passage would give an exemption to people who don’t receive compensation or per diem for their service and who serve on a board that doesn’t have the authority to spend more than $50,000 a year.
The current law, Perry said, discourages people from wanting to volunteer for small museum and library boards. He mentioned a constituent who served on a local board and faced a hefty fine from the state ethics board for not filing the financial disclosure.
“As a true volunteer, this constituent can’t afford $20, much less a $1,500 fine,” he said.
The Senate-backed bill received support without objection from the House and Governmental Affairs Committee. It heads next to the full House for consideration.
House votes for TOPS program cost controls; Jindal opposed
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Despite opposition from Gov. Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana House voted Tuesday to put spending restrictions on the TOPS free college tuition program, a bill that could have students and their parents paying more out of pocket for tuition.
The 61-33 vote moved the proposal by Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, to one step away from final legislative passage. The measure heads back to the Senate for approval of changes.
Under the bill, the TOPS tuition payment rate would be locked in at the 2015-16 level. Rather than the current automatic increases whenever tuition costs rise, increases to TOPS payments in the 2016-17 school year and beyond would have to get separate approval from lawmakers.
Supporters say adding cost controls to TOPS would ensure Louisiana can continue to afford the program long term to help students go to college. Without it, the price tag for TOPS will continue to balloon, they say.
“We’re going to protect the TOPS program and make it sustainable for the future,” said Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport, who handled the bill in the House.
But the proposal drew opposition from Jindal and others who noted it could mean students who receive the tuition awards and their parents have higher college costs because the TOPS program could cover less than the full price of a school’s tuition.
The Jindal administration said that would break the promise made to students that if they reached certain academic benchmarks, the state would pay for their tuition.
Jindal’s office didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to a question about whether the Republican governor would veto the bill if it reaches his desk.
Changes to TOPS are politically difficult.
The program is much beloved among middle-class families, who benefit disproportionately from the tuition aid. Also, the program is credited with helping more students get college degrees in a state with low levels of educational attainment.
But TOPS is slated to cost $284 million next year and is projected to continue growing. Lawmakers worry about being able to continue affording the program, particularly as colleges seek continued tuition increases to offset state financing reductions.
To get the basic TOPS scholarship that covers all tuition costs at a public college in Louisiana, a graduating high school student must have a 2.5 GPA on core curriculum and a 20 ACT score. The program is slated to cover more than 55,000 students’ tuition next year. — MS, AP