Constitutional convention for La. coming?

Shreveport Times article

LINK

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you are the fricking man when it comes to La. politics. Give me some hope, brother.

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Appreciate the kind thoughts but I'm just a man pretty well tuned into Louisiana politics and even then, I would still describe my knowledge as above average but not quite there yet.

There are lots of posters on this board that are far more capable than I like IB Freeman, LSUFanHouston, BigJim, Double B, 90Proof and quite a few others I can't recall right now.

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Actually in no fricking way should a constitutional convention happen at all while the political twin of Edwin Edwards in JBE is still Governor of this state.

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I disagree. The proposed Con-Con would be fiscal-only and it's exactly what is needed when you have so much funding dedicated by amendments and a legislature so inept it couldn't pass a vote on what color the sky is.

The biggest problem I have with it is that it would take years to accomplish.

First there has to be agreement on what the Con-Con would be set up to accomplish, that would be decided by the legislature.
Next the bill would have to actually make it to the floor of both chambers
Next the bill would have to pass both chambers
Next the legislature would have to pick delegates
--this means getting enough agreement on individuals to get them at least nominated
--those nominated then must be approved
Next comes the scheduling of the Con-Con (which I think is done by the delegates, so that might go faster)
Next comes the debate among the delegates about what to change and to what extent
Next would be the proposed changes going out to voters for approval

All told we would be looking at a bare minimum of 2-3 years for the entire process.

What I would like to see from a Con-Con is a limit on dedications, something like "there may be no more than 10 dedications at any given time, once the maximum is reached the only way to add another is to swap it out for once currently in existence and that change must be plainly listed in the proposed amendment sent to the voters."

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The line item veto power for the Governor needs to go away. It gives him too much control over the legislature.

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Again, I disagree. A line-item veto is a necessary tool in the balancing of power, otherwise you end up with a situation like we have with Congress where they can add completely unrelated riders to a bill and the President has only a sign/veto option for the bill in its entirety.

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Whatever constitution that is eventually drawn up, it needs to decentralize power away from Baton Rouge and put in the hands of the parishes and enable parishes to keep as much of their own tax money as they can instead of sending the money to Baton Rouge to disappear into the black hole that's called the general fund.

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Can't agree more.

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nah lets get the republicans who bled the state dry back in office before we fix it. that's super logical

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Taxation of one of the unions poorest states isnt the answer. The current way to fix the budget means slashing 3 things - education, healthcare, and public safety. "Republicans" just understand how taxation runs people out.

While I do realize there are issues with our constitution, and it does put constraints on the legislature and the governor, I believe the people in power use it as one big excuse to cut nothing.

There are substantial cuts that can be made, and the people in power simply won't do them because it is not politically favorable.

The nursing home deal, the film deal, and various NGOs are examples, and I'm sure there are others.

BigJim is as savvy as anyone here, and he could provide some more things that could be cut but the pols hide behind the Constitution.

I think, and I don't know this, but he gets to look under the tent.

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Taxation of one of the unions poorest states isnt the answer. The current way to fix the budget means slashing 3 things - education, healthcare, and public safety. "Republicans" just understand how taxation runs people out.

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or rewrite the constitution and have don't have the state's budget tied to oil?

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There are lots of posters on this board that are far more capable than I like IB Freeman, LSUFanHouston, BigJim, Double B, 90Proof and quite a few others I can't recall right now.

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BigJim is as savvy as anyone here, and he could provide some more things that could be cut but the pols hide behind the Constitution.

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WOOT! Made it big time!

Look we can (and should) have a great thread about what a new constitution should look like.

But let me rain on everyone's parade. This particular attempt at a constitution convention won't happen. It won't happen because JBE doesn't want it to happen. JBE doesn't want it to happen because local governments (including the jail house and school house crowd) don't want it to happen.

So even if this gets out of the house (and will need a 2/3 vote there) it will die in the senate.

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or rewrite the constitution and have don't have the state's budget tied to oil?

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So is it the republicans fault for bleeding the state dry or a poorly written constitution?

Your biased hatred is bleeding through.

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nah lets get the republicans who bled the state dry back in office before we fix it. that's super logical

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Simplistic bullshite.

Tax revenues from $110 oil crashed when went below $50. Because of Edwin Edwards constitution the legislature can only cut education and health. Jindal should have faced this problem head on. He didn’t.

JBE got elected on his honor code BS and promptly started spending more money and asking for more taxes. Between fiscal years 2015 and 2016, total government spending in Louisiana increased by approximately $1.8 billion—from $27.8 billion in fiscal year 2015 to an estimated $29.6 billion in 2016. This represents a 6.7-percent increase. In 2017/18 the state spent $33.1 billion.

So now we face the annual JBE Billion Dollar Shortfall. If he would have governed, and kept the budget increase to ONLY $32 billion, we wouldn’t be in this shite.

But Democrats have to spend and tax!

Bumpy-head is a dead man walking. He’ll soon join Blankstare as a one and done former Democrat governor. Wish it was today.