Talk of another special session and the shortcomings of a gridlocked legislature permeated the House chamber Monday as Gov. John Bel Edwards delivered a sobering “state of the state” address before the 2016 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature.
The focus for the remainder of the three-month conclave will be how to reconcile the state’s budget shortfall for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, estimated at $800 million, without raising any more taxes, which by law it cannot do in the regular session of an even year.
That will likely mean deep cuts to higher education and healthcare, the two areas with the least protection by law.
University Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs Jason Droddy said the failure of legislators to find common ground to raise enough revenue in the first special session has affected conversation among higher education administrators.
“How certain should we feel that they will come up with a different result that will mitigate the budget cuts? Their nerves are already raw from the past special session, and now they go into a regular session in which there will be tons of fights [over] the budget,” Droddy said.
Another special session, likely in June, following the regular session’s end, is also a near certainty.
There is also shortfall of up to $57 million for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. These imbalances will not be known for certain until the Revenue Estimating Conference produces its latest projections on Wednesday.
Edwards lays the financial problem at the feet of the Legislature, particularly the House, which spent 25 days in special session earlier this year without resolving the budget issues.
The tensions with no-tax lawmakers, which flared in the first special session, are not likely to recede.
Edwards said he may know the exact shortfall Monday afternoon, but the legislative fiscal office has not determined the amount of revenue raised or cuts passed, almost a week after the last-minute blitz of bills approved in the final minutes of the special session.
But Edwards, frustrated with legislators who he said would neither vote for taxes nor identify and stand by cuts, said the options for raising revenue will not be any more “appetizing” in a new special session. Legislators who voted “no” on tax measures, he added, will come to the realization the state needs more revenue once programs are deeply slashed.
“Between now and then, there will be unnecessary pain visited on the state of Louisiana,” Edwards said in a news conference following his legislative address. “Pain that could have been avoided had we done our job the first time around.”
He expressed discontent with a Legislature that left budget holes in the millions, which he said will hurt higher education even if lawmakers backfill money in another special session.
“I don’t see much of an appetite [for raising taxes] from what we just did,” said House Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry.
Henry called it “common sense” to not spend more than the state generates in revenue, and added the regular session will be a matter of prioritizing the state’s spending.
Henry said he would support a special session if it’s dedicated to structural reform. Taxes, exemptions and credits cannot be touched in a non-fiscal session, further reducing the avenues lawmakers can take to mitigate cuts.
“It kind of ties your hands,” Henry said.