At the Session: Taxes, homeowners insurance on House agenda
Published 9:15 pm Monday, May 10, 2021
Jim Beam
The Louisiana House today is scheduled to take final action on a constitutional amendment eliminating the deductibility of corporate income taxes. The Senate will decide the fate of a House-passed centralized system for collecting state and local sales taxes.
The House on Tuesday will debate four bills designed to correct homeowner insurance problems that have occurred following Hurricanes Laura and Delta that hit Southwest Louisiana and other parts of the state in 2020.
Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, has House Bill 275 that eliminates the corporate tax deductions. It is one of the Legislature’s tax reform measures. Voters would decide whether to eliminate the deductions on Nov. 8, 2022.
The goal of tax reform is to eliminate deductions in order to reduce taxes. Other bills would lower corporate income taxes if voters approve the amendment.
Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, is author of HB 199 that sets up the centralized sales tax system. It is also a proposed constitutional amendment that would be decided on Nov 8, 2022.
The sales tax measure will require a separate legislative measure outlining how the centralized system would work if voters approve the amendment. Local government representatives would work with state officials on setting up the system.
Rep. Chris Turner, R-Ruston, has HB 355 up for final action in the House. It prohibits public schools and some non-public schools from being members of or participating in competitions sponsored by athletic associations that aren’t audited by the legislative auditor.
Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, has two voting bills up for final action in the Senate. Senate Bill 220 says absentee by mail and early voting records would have to be kept for at least two years from the date of the election. Current law says they must be kept six months.
SB 224 by Cloud says absentee by mail ballot envelope certificates will have to include the Louisiana driver’s license number or special ID card number or the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number.
Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Moss Bluff, has HB 428 before the House Appropriations Committee today that tries to do what he was unsuccessful doing when the state budget was debated last week.
Geymann cast the only vote against the $36.4 billion operating budget after the House rejected his effort to limit additional budget growth if the state income forecast increases, as expected. He wanted new dollars spent on one-time projects and debt payments, which is the subject of HB 428.
The appropriations committee will also hear three bills dedicating funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which is the COVID-19 relief package. Many measures have been introduced that dedicate those federal funds to different expenditures.
The House Transportation Committee will hear bills prohibiting the use of wireless telecommunications devices while operating a motor vehicle and that establish a $100,000 survivor benefit for the death of a state Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) employee that occurred while performing work duties.
A third bill before the committee provides for increasing certain DOTD fees with the revenue to be used for financing department operations.
The House Ways and Means Committee will be hearing two capital outlay bills that provide for state construction projects. One measure contains the projects and the other provides for bond financing of those projects.
The Senate Finance Committee will hear SB 10 that establishes mandatory kindergarten attendance beginning at age 5, starting with the 2022-23 school year. A fiscal note to the bill says it will cause a significant increase in state expenditures through the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) that finances K-12 education.
Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, has legislation before the committee that says sports wagering fees, fines, revenues and other monies would first go to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund and then to the state general fund.
The Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee will hear HB 514 by Speaker Pro Tem Tanner Magee, R-Houma, that levies a sales tax on raw or crude marijuana recommended for therapeutic use. The revenues would be deposited in the Construction Subfund of the state Transportation Trust Fund.
