Members of the Legislature begin the eighth and next-to-last week of their fiscal session today facing a number of controversies. Contentious issues involve the proposed fiscal 2017-18 budget, gasoline taxes, criminal justice reform, construction spending, disagreements between the House and Senate and between Democrats and Republicans and failure to raise funds to avoid a $1.3 billion deficit July 1, 2018.

The Legislature has to adjourn its fiscal session at 6 p.m. June 8, and there is already talk of the need for its fourth special session since members took office in January of 2016. Efforts to reform the budget and tax systems have pretty much been derailed.

The Senate has been holding budget hearings and expects its Finance Committee to reveal its plan today for dealing with a proposed $29 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The House only budgeted 97.5 percent of the revenues expected, holding back $206 million in the event there is another annual mid-year budget deficit in 2018.

Many senators and Gov. John Bel Edwards believe the House’s $235 million reduction in the state Department of Health’s budget will cause serious cutbacks in essential health care services for the disabled and mental health patients. The final Senate budget plan may use that $206 million the House set aside for future use.

Sen. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte and chairman of the Finance Committee, told The Associated Press the House considers restoration of those funds to be a “deal-breaker.”

“I’m not sure how much room there is to negotiate,” he said.

A proposed 17-cent-per-gallon increase in the state’s 20-cent gasoline tax is scheduled for debate again Wednesday. House Bill 632 by Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, was returned to the calendar last week because the hour was late and the 70 votes (two-thirds) needed for taxes weren’t there.

News reports over the weekend indicated Carter has some amendments lined up that might improve his bill’s chances for passage. The legislation already has provisions that tie the money to transportation projects and nothing else.

A group of 34 business and economic development organizations have thrown their support behind the increase. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative organization, and the state Republican Party are major opponents.

Most Baton Rouge area legislators support the increase since gridlock at the Interstate 10 bridge over the Mississippi River has become the nation’s No. 1 traffic nightmare.

Criminal justice reform, a bipartisan effort, is currently being held up because of dissension between Democrats and Republicans in the House. Democrats are holding up the state’s construction bill in an effort to get the GOP leadership to negotiate with them over budget and other issues.

Republican leaders, in return, have threatened to delay bipartisan criminal justice legislation that is designed to relieve Louisiana of its reputation for having the highest incarceration rate in the nation.

House Republicans have refused to approve revenue-raising measures or curb the approval of tax breaks, which total nearly $7 billion annually. Ending some of those breaks would raise revenues and help resolve the expected 2018 deficit, but lawmakers are moving in the opposite direction.

Jim Richardson, an LSU economics professor and co-chairman of a task force that studied tax and budget reform for a year, told The Advocate those actions are the reason the tax system is broken. He said tax giveaways add up and cost money.

“You do it one by one, and it means you have to have higher (tax) rates,” he said. “Then you need more exemptions to offset the higher rates. That’s where the system falls apart.”

The House Ways and Means Committee, which has killed most revenue bills, has a full agenda today that includes even more tax breaks already approved by the Senate. It does have measures that raise money.

Senate Bill 25 by Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, would repeal an $18 and soon-to-be $25 education annual income tax credit. It would raise $9.2 million this year and $12.8 million annually after that. The full House has already killed a similar measure by Rep. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles. Funds Abraham wanted to save would have been used to train citizens in badly needed industrial jobs.

S.B. 172 by Morrell eliminates tax credits in 2020-21 that would raise $51 million that year and $277 million in 2021-22. The Senate approved it 22-14.

Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, has S.B. 79 that would raise $12.5 million annually by eliminating corporate income and franchise tax credits. The Senate voted 37-1 for Luneau’s bill.

A name change proposed for the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches is causing another rift. Senators voted 31-2 to name the school after the late Rep. Jimmy Long Sr. However, many of the school’s 5,000 alumni are protesting vigorously.

Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi and a close friend of Long, said Long all but created the school and deserves the honor. He said he would amend it to add Long’s name to the school but it would remain with its current title on a day-to-day basis.

Alumni are still resisting, saying they prefer a plan to instead name a $23 million residential dormitory after Long.

The full House this week will start deciding whether to agree with changes made to House bills by the Senate. Failure to concur will result in sending the legislation to conference committees in hopes of ironing out the differences.

The House will also debate Senate bills while the Senate will be debating House measures.Several controversies await Louisiana lawmakers