Budget fix marks session’s end

Louisiana lawmakers have wrapped up work in the three-month regular session and adjourned.

Before they left Monday, lawmakers worked out the final pieces of their budget disputes and agreed to spend millions of dollars on their pet projects.

House and Senate leaders spent much of the session locked in a stalemate over the budget. With a day to spare, the House reluctantly agreed to the Senate’s version of the $26 billion budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year and the Senate’s plans for rebalancing this year’s budget, which contained a $600 million deficit.

Then on Monday, the state’s revenue forecasting panel adopted revised income estimates to match the budget bills and formally recognized the “rainy day” fund money and tax amnesty dollars used to balance them.

Hundreds of bills passed and failed. As always, the biggest money issues were left unresolved until the final days. A look at how things fared:

WHAT BILLS PASSED:

• BUDGET: Plans to rebalance this year’s budget, which had a nearly $600 million deficit, and to chart $26 billion in spending for the upcoming 2010-11 fiscal year. Cuts will be levied on most state agencies, including the Medicaid program for the poor, education programs, charity hospitals, higher education boards, college agricultural centers, social services and parks.

• ELECTIONS: Overhaul of the congressional primary system, returning the state to an open primary system that allows all candidates, regardless of party, to run against each other on the same primary ballot. The rules will change beginning with the 2012 elections.

• DRIVER’S LICENSE: Repeal of a $15 increase in the price of a Louisiana driver’s license. Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed the bill.

• TEACHERS: Revamp of the state’s teacher evaluation process that will grade public school and charter school teachers partially based on student test scores, tying at least half of a teacher’s review to student performance data. Jindal has signed the bill.

• EDUCATION WAIVERS: Proposal to let public schools waive state education laws and regulations superintendents believe impede their ability to improve performance, allowing schools to function more like charter schools. A teachers union plans to file a lawsuit seeking to block the bill.

• HEALTH CARE: A largely symbolic bill registering Louisiana’s objection to President Barack Obama’s signature health care revamp, declaring that no one in the state can be required to have health insurance or be required to pay a penalty if they refuse to carry insurance. The issue ultimately will be decided in federal court.

• COLLEGE TUITION: A proposal to let Louisiana’s public colleges raise their tuition up to 10 percent a year if the schools to agree to work on performance improvements, like increasing admission standards, improving graduation rates and boosting efforts to get students into jobs.

• ABORTION: Several proposals to add new regulations on abortion, including a ban on doctors receiving medical malpractice coverage when performing elective abortions not required to save a mother’s life. Other bills will require women seeking abortions to get an ultrasound, prohibit coverage for elective abortions in the insurance purchasing pools set up by the federal health overhaul and give the state health secretary broader discretion to revoke abortion clinic licenses.

• CRIME: Ban on “cyberbullying” that prohibits harassing or intimidating someone under the age of 18 by text message, e-mail or posts on social networking sites like Facebook. Ban on an herbal mixture sold as incense, but that gives a marijuana-like high when smoked. Creation of the crime of “participation in cockfighting.”

• CELL PHONES: Bill that makes texting while driving a primary offense so police can stop anyone they observe texting at the wheel. Jindal has signed the bill.

• GUNS IN CHURCH: Bid to allow concealed weapons to be carried inside churches, if pastors agree.

• SEAFOOD: Creation of a program to market and certify Louisiana wild-caught shrimp. Any product falsely sold as Louisiana shrimp will be removed from the market. Jindal has signed the bill.

• CHINESE DRYWALL: Ban on insurance companies canceling or refusing to renew coverage for homeowners who have found corrosive Chinese drywall in their homes.

• RETIREMENT: A reworking of the statewide retirement programs for new hires beginning Jan. 1, to cut Louisiana’s retirement costs.

WHAT BILLS FAILED:

• TOPS: Annual attempt to cap the scholarships available in the state’s free college tuition program called TOPS.

• COLLEGES: Merger of the four-year public college boards. A separate bill that defines board roles, but steers clear of a merger won final passage instead.

• SMOKING: Attempt to ban smoking in Louisiana bars and casinos.

• GAY ADOPTION: Proposal to let gay or unmarried couples adopt children together.

• SEX EDUCATION: Requirement that all Louisiana public schools teach sex education to students.

• PUBLIC RECORDS: The opening of most records in the governor’s office to public scrutiny. A separate bill requiring the governor to open and preserve records related to the Gulf oil spill passed.

• LAW CLINICS: Bill aimed at shuttering or seriously hobbling the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic.

• EDUCATION: Proposal to make the state’s education superintendent elected, rather than appointed; and requirement that public school students maintain at least a “C” average to play sports on school teams.

• CHARITY HOSPITAL: Attempt to move LSU’s medical school to Baton Rouge from New Orleans.

• LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Abolition of the lieutenant governor’s office and a separate measure to strip the lieutenant governor of his responsibilities over museums, state parks and tourism.

• TERM LIMITS: Term limits for statewide elected officials (besides the governor who’s already term-limited), judges, district attorneys and sheriffs.

• WELFARE: Mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients.

• DRUG OFFENSES: Attempt to stamp driver’s licenses with the orange words “drug offender” for anyone twice convicted of felony drug crimes.

• MARDI GRAS LIABILITY: Proposal to shield Mardi Gras float-builders from some liability claims for accidents on the parade route.

• TAXES: Repeal of Louisiana’s severance tax on oil and gas production and replacement with a processing tax.

• ODDS AND ENDS: Prohibitions on hand-held cell phone use while driving, saggy pants that show underwear, the sale of energy drinks in Louisiana to children under the age of 16 and the cameras that take photos of speeders and drivers who run red lights.