After Louisiana voters reject Amendment 2, Gov. Jeff Landry, lawmakers try diff approach

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A month ago, voters soundly rejected a complicated proposal by Gov. Jeff Landry to revamp the tax section of Louisiana’s constitution.

The defeat has not deterred Landry and his legislative allies from trying to take another bite of the apple, albeit in smaller bites.

The governor and his allies believe that voters rebuffed Amendment 2 on March 29 because it was too complex and tried to make too many different changes. They note that the numerous changes contained in the amendment were spelled out in a 115-page bill

So, after breaking out the popular individual pieces, they are now pushing four specific changes that were part of Amendment 2, which lost at the polls along with three other amendments.

“Voters said they wanted to be able to vote on simpler forms of those elements,” said Richard Nelson, the revenue secretary and intellectual author of Amendment 2. “This is responsive to that.”

Those changes would:

Eliminate three education trust funds, pay off retirement debt and use much of the savings from that move to supplement salaries for teachers and support staff.
Give parish governments the option of ending the property tax on business inventory.
Eliminate the Revenue Stabilization Fund and use the freed-up money to fill up the rainy day fund and cover the cost of phasing out the inventory tax.
Impose a limit on how much the state can increase spending each year on education, health care, prisons and all other government programs

Each of the various measures, if approved by the Legislature, would go before voters individually in 2026 and take effect only with voter approval.

“It’s more easily digestible,” said state Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, who sponsored the bill that became Amendment 2. “Many, many people called me (after the March 29 vote) and said they liked the concepts, but it was too much.”

No major opposition has emerged yet to the four proposals as they begin to work their way through the Legislature.

Landry and Nelson believed that Amendment 2 contained so many good provisions that voters would overlook the parts they didn’t like. The strategy failed, and now Landry and his legislative allies are pushing only the individual changes that they think voters would accept.

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