Budgetary ideological division forces 11-day Special Legislative Session; cost $500,000
14th June 2017 · 0 Comments
By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer
During his first race for the State House of Representatives in 2007, which the author admittedly played an opposing role, Cameron Henry contended that the problem with Louisiana politics was the absence of true partisanship. Definitive ideological stands needed to become more part of the legislative discourse, however that might upset the usual deal-making in Baton Rouge.
From the beginning of this year’s legislative session to its closing hours, Cameron, now the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and arguably the most powerful Republican in the lower chamber, lived up to his partisan promise. As did his Democratic rival Speaker Pro Tem Rep. Walt Leger III. In the final afternoon hours of the session Thursday, June 8, these two—and their partisan allies—spat venom across the House floor over the budget. There was a moment of hope. At one point the two sides stood just $50 million apart in their negotiations, yet in the end, the 2017 Legislative session ended without a budget for the first time in years—due to ideological divisions.
Compromise eluded Representatives and Senators negotiating between themselves and the Edwards Administration. They sparred over whether to fulfill the Governor’s desire to spend the entirety of the anticipated revenue or hold back $154 million as a cushion against midyear spending cuts in case revenue projects prove too optimistic, as Henry and his House Republican allies sought.
In response, a frustrated John Bel Edwards called a special session of the Legislature beginning just a half hour post-sine die, at 6:30 p.m. last Thursday, in order to pass a budget prior to the fiscal year commencing July 1. The Democratic Governor charged that House GOP leaders arrived on June 8 determined to block approval of the state’s $38 billion operating budget, calling the final day of the regular legislative session a “train wreck” that hurts taxpayers.
“They’re not hurting my feelings, but they’re hurting the people of Louisiana,” Edwards told reporters. “They just need to grow up.” Edwards decried the potential $500,000 cost of the 11-day special session, saying the regular session turned out to be a “missed opportunity to do the job the people of Louisiana elected us to do.”
“Quite frankly, they are better than what they are getting out of Baton Rouge these days,” he said.
Conservative allies of Henry argue the contrary, noting that the Governor’s spending plans would likely land the state in a mid-year deficit requiring even harsher cuts. Their original budget would have spent just 97.5 percent of the general fund dollars the Revenue Estimating Conference projects the state will bring in during the fiscal year that begins on July 1.
However, the House GOP’s deductions of $237 million from the executive budget submitted by the Edwards administration would have protected certain areas within specific department budgets. Instead of across-the-board reductions, the budget for the Louisiana Department of Health would have seen disproportionate cuts as a result. Consequently, due to the huge role federal dollars play in funding the department’s operation primarily through Medicaid, LDH Secretary Rebekah Gee told Senate Finance that the House version of HB1 would force a total cut of $920 million in her department—through a combined loss of state and federal funding.
The Senate Finance Committee rejected the cuts sought by the House. At the urging of Democratic Chairman Sen. Eric Lafleur, the committee and the full Senate voted to use 100 percent of the REC revenue projection as the basis for the budget—allowing many of the House-made cuts to be restored. It was for an amended version of this Senate budget that House Speaker Pro Tem Leger fought last Thursday, along with all House Democrats (excepting Neil Abramson of Uptown New Orleans).
Leger sought to bring the two sides together, and the House GOP was partially willing, agreeing to some of the pay raises that the Governor sought for parole and prison staff, as well as increased hospital funding. However, Henry drew the line at $50 million in reserved capital, noting that each year since 2009, the House had spent all of the money projected, forcing the state to make mid-year reductions, mostly to Hospital budgets. Pointing to recent history, he warned, that a mid-year deficit might more negatively impact Dr. Gee’s operating budget than what the GOP proposed now.
Henry’s precedent of spending only 97.5 percent of estimated monies constitutes the first true philosophical break in Louisiana legislative fiscal procedure in decades. Moreover, the House Appropriations Chairman seeks to extend that practice past 2017, an idea that rankles Democrats who see such fiscal caution as a direct attack on already underfunded social programs. This philosophical impasse makes compromise far more difficult than anytime in recent memory.
As a result, arguably for the first time since Reconstruction (or at least the Long/anti-Long fights of the 20s and 30s), true ideological partisanship drives discourse in Baton Rouge. It is not just about this year’s spending, but over the fashion which budgetary appropriations will function for the next decade—or longer. This Washington-style difference of vision over governmental expenditure divides the House and Senate and paralyzes the governor’s usual power to move problematic budgets through incalcitrant legislatures.
Yet, state House Democrats aren’t powerless in this fight between the House GOP majority, the more moderate State Senate, and the Democratic Governor. They have sworn to hold up the state’s construction budget if they do not see changes in the state operating budget, and Henry knows that many of his fellow conservatives are wary of losing road and infrastructure projects in their districts.
The construction budget needs 70 votes to approve, and the Republicans have only 61 members in House caucus. GOP leaders will have to corral all their members, the three independents and six Democrats to get the construction budget passed. In contrast, it takes just 53 votes, a majority, to pass the operating budget.
This article originally published in the June 12, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
