All hope appears lost that the state legislature will pass any tax measures in this special session to address a nearly one-billion dollar shortfall. A sales tax bill that would provide nearly 300-million dollars in revenues was defeated soundly for a second time last night. Jeremy Alford, the publisher of LA-politics-dot-com, was there for the vote.
Alford says that the bill "went down in flames" with a 33-70 vote.
After the vote, the House adjourned until 4 PM today . But Alford says it’s unlikely the fractured House will gather the necessary 70 votes to pass this sales tax bill or the 53 votes to approve a separate income tax bill that’s also been discussed.
According to Alford, "relationships have been ruined, and nerves are frayed." Because of this, Alford says that he's uncertain if any tax measure will be passed to resolve the budget deficit.
Two weeks ago, a 17-day special session began with hope lawmakers would close a 994-million dollar shortfall that will come about when temporary sales taxes expire on June 30th. Alford says this session is on the verge of crashing and burning, because no one was able to get on the same page on how to solve the fiscal cliff.
Alford says that divisions within GOP delegation and Democratic caucuses resulted in a failure to approve legislation.
Governor John Bel Edwards says House leadership is not negotiating in good faith. He says a vast majority of the House wanted to solve this problem, but were not given the chance. The governor says budget reform proposals wanted by the speaker made it through the process. He says the governor kept his promise, House leadership did not.
The session must end at midnight on Wednesday night.