Lois Dufrene
January 7, 2008
A GOOD CALL: Alcorn satisfied about choosing life in stripes
January 9, 2008(AP) – Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal plans a hefty workload for state lawmakers, saying Friday that he intends to call a special legislative session to spend a $1 billion state surplus – after his first planned special session for ethics law changes.
Both special sessions will be held before the regular legislative session begins March 31, but Jindal said he won’t announce the dates for either special session until after he takes office Jan. 14.
The incoming Republican governor repeatedly had talked of his plans to hold the ethics-related special session, but he hadn’t yet confirmed intentions to hold the second special session, though there was widespread speculation that he was considering one.
“It’s my expectation at this time that we will have a second special session after we have the one on ethics,” Jindal said in an interview Friday.
He said that session would cover spending a more than $1 billion state surplus, but he added that he wanted to talk further about those plans with the Legislature’s leaders. He didn’t offer details about how he would like to see the surplus dollars spent.
Rep. Jim Tucker, who is expected to be elected House speaker when the new terms begin, said he has talked with Jindal about a second special session that would spend the surplus money and possibly would include business tax cuts.
The state is expected to have a more than $1 billion surplus for the 2006-07 budget year that ended June 30, when the financial books for that fiscal year are finally closed.
Tucker, R-Terrytown, said handling the surplus money in a special session would keep it away from discussions about the regular annual budget.
“Dealing with the surplus in a special session will keep that separate and maybe some of the horse-trading down,” Tucker said.
Surplus dollars are limited to one-time spending, like construction projects, road repairs, debt payment and coastal restoration projects.
But Jindal must get two-thirds of lawmakers to agree to break an annual cap on state spending, designed to control growth in government, before the dollars can be spent. That two-thirds vote proved difficult for Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who had to overcome Republican opposition to breaking the cap last year before getting approval for her spending plans.
Tucker said Jindal has told him he’d like to see some of the surplus money spent on the state’s retirement debt and on road construction.
Tucker said no decisions have been made about what types of business tax breaks would be included in the second special session. During his campaign, Jindal supported speeding up the phase-out of the corporate franchise tax on debt and the state sales tax on manufacturing of machinery and equipment and doing away with a state utility tax on business.
