For the third time this year, Governor John Bel Edwards addressed a joint session of the Legislature, as a second special session follows on the heels of the regular session’s end.
“Here we are again. Probably seems like we never left,” said Edwards.
At least one of the Governor’s themes was predictable, calling on the Legislators to handle business "by working together.”
But since a special session has a tightly focused agenda, the Governor also made clear his three main priorities for this two-and-a-half-week long lawmaking exercise.
“Cleaning up some errors from the first special session. The frantic pace of the final moments of the previous special session led to some unintended consequences that we need to fix," he said. “Second, we must enact real, meaningful tax reform and close the $600 million deficit remaining for the fiscal year beginning July 1," which, he noted, is "less than a month away."
And in light of what did not happen at the close of the regular session, the Governor named a third main goal of passing "a capital outlay bill that allows us to complete essential construction projects, tackle deferred maintenance, and invest in our highway priority program,” he explained.
Once again, the House and the Senate are at odds, since the House failed to vote on concurrence with Senate amendments to the capital outlay bill, causing the Governor to admonish lawmakers.
“Let’s always remember that we work for the people of Louisiana. Let’s live up to their expectations," he said, "and get our act together."
He also left them with a veiled threat.
“We need to make the harder right choices in the next two weeks, rather than the easier wrong ones that could have negative long-term effects on our state and," he added, "cause us to be right back here to fix it again.”