BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Legislature will hold a veto override session for the first time in modern state history. The announcement came Friday as leaders of the Republican-controlled House and Senate recounted the previous evening’s vote to return to…
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana has the highest combined sales tax rate in the country, according to a new midyear analysis by a national tax policy nonprofit. The Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank, analyzed state and local sales tax…
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has concluded the last of 477 bill signings for the 2021 regular legislative session, and among hundreds of new laws are a slew of criminal justice measures a reform group calls “encouraging.”…
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a First Amendment challenge to the Louisiana State Bar Association’s mandatory membership and compelled dues requirements. The ruling reversed a lower court dismissal and remanded…
BATON ROUGE – Mirroring the rest of the nation, public school enrollment in Louisiana has fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic, but schools in the state still will receive millions of additional dollars in funding. Nearly 700,000 students were enrolled in…
BATON ROUGE – A bill signed this week by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will require school students to attend kindergarten as the first step in their K-12 education. Senate Bill 10, which was introduced in February, passed the state…
BATON ROUGE - The collective wealth of Louisiana residents decreased $484.9 million in 2019 due to population migration trends, according to a new analysis of Internal Revenue Service data by the conservative nonprofit Wirepoints website. Overall, Louisiana lost 18,897 people…
BATON ROUGE – Gov. John Bel Edwards said he will review the implications of the complex tax swap the Louisiana Legislature approved during the session that ended Thursday but indicated he was likely to sign off. “I expect to support those…
BATON ROUGE – On the last day of the 2021 regular session, the Louisiana Senate gave final passage to a complex tax overhaul that supporters hope will make the state more attractive to businesses and residents. The package now heads…
BATON ROUGE – About a quarter of a random sample of pandemic unemployment benefit recipients may not have been eligible, according to the Louisiana legislative auditor. Thirty-seven of 138 claimants (27%) who were paid $261,063 had inconsistent or missing information…
NEW ORLEANS – The Louisiana House has declined to extend by three years the sunset for the state’s $180 million annual film and TV subsidy program. Senate Bill 173 by Slidell Republican Sen. Sharon Hewitt calls for extending the sunset from…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Senate’s tax policy committee advanced Monday three key pieces of a complex income tax overhaul. The bills collectively call for changing the state constitution to eliminate major tax breaks while lowering the income tax rates,…
NEW ORLEANS - The consumer price index jumped by 0.8% in April -- a far larger increase than many had anticipated. The recent spike in the cost of goods and services has led to widespread concerns over inflation. If the…
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana will spend $61.6 million in federal money on 16 flood risk reduction projects throughout the state, Gov. John Bel Edwards' office announced. The projects are part of officials’ plans to spend a $1.2 billion grant the state received…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Senate has approved a House-passed ban on private election funding that Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed last year. Rep. Blake Miguez, R-Erath, filed House Bill 20 in response to what he called “Zuckerbucks,” referring to…
NEW ORLEANS - The COVID-19 pandemic sent economic shockwaves through the U.S. economy, tripling the monthly unemployment to nearly 15% and leading to a more than 30% quarterly decline in GDP - by far the largest economic contraction in U.S.…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Senate Education Committee endorsed a $94.7 million spending increase Tuesday to cover raises for teachers and school support staff. The boost to the state’s Minimum Foundation Program, which is better known as the MFP and…
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana House members voted Monday to advance one of three bills that would create the regulations and tax rates for sports betting, which 55 of 64 Louisiana parishes voted to legalize last year. “The people spoke,” said…
NEW ORLEANS - The public health and economic toll the coronavirus pandemic caused are well documented. Perhaps less understood are the social impacts. According to a report from Pew Research Center, young adults in the United States were more likely…
BATON ROUGE – Committees on opposite sides of the Louisiana state Capitol went in different directions Wednesday on bills meant to prevent auto insurance companies from setting rates based on factors other than the customer’s driving record. The Senate Insurance…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana House voted to divert hundreds of millions of dollars in automobile taxes from the general fund to a fund dedicated to road and bridge construction. Members also voted Monday to ask the southeast Louisiana parishes…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Senate Education Committee agreed Thursday to call for bigger raises for teachers and school support personnel than the state education board’s recommended spending plan includes. The main state spending bill is $5.6 million short of…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana House endorsed a pair of bills Monday that would cut tax rates for some corporations while eliminating a major corporate tax break for paying federal income taxes. The tax swap is part of a broader…
(The Center Square) – A Louisiana Senate committee advanced legislation Wednesday that supporters said would ensure money collected for violations of coastal permits is dedicated to coastal restoration and protection. An attorney for parishes that are suing oil companies over…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana House's tax-writing committee narrowly advanced most of a complex tax overhaul Tuesday that even skeptics called “bold,” though one piece of the package didn’t quite make the cut. House Bill 526 and the associated bills…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana House's tax-writing committee advanced without objection Monday competing bills to reduce state income tax rates while cutting tax breaks to make up the difference in state revenue. The House Ways and Means Committee also shot…
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana House's tax policy committee voted unanimously Thursday to make it more difficult to enact and maintain state tax breaks. Under House Bill 202 by Rep. Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette, creating a new tax exemption, deduction, rebate or credit…
BATON ROUGE – A Louisiana Senate committee advanced without objection Thursday a proposal to extend the life of the state’s film subsidy program, which may be a tough sell for lawmakers looking to trim or eliminate tax incentives. The motion picture…
BATON ROUGE – A Louisiana House committee has advanced a bill to create a “regulatory sandbox” for companies that use blockchain technology. Blockchain is a type of database for storing digital information, such as cryptocurrency transactions. With his House Bill 482,…
BATON ROUGE – A Louisiana House committee advanced a possible constitutional amendment Tuesday to create a single statewide entity to collect sales taxes. House Bill 199 is the session’s top priority for Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, who is the bill's…
