Jindal plans sail to finish

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 16, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A little more than three months after his inauguration, the honeymoon still is in full bloom for Gov. Bobby Jindal.

“This was an incredibly successful session,” the governor said Friday, celebrating the passage of tax breaks and other proposals.
A long line of legislators — Democrats and Republicans — gathered behind him to share the moment.

Jindal got nearly everything he wanted in his first and second special sessions of the Legislature.

The first session focused on changes to the state’s ethics laws. The second session, which ended Friday, dealt with tax breaks and the spending of a $1.1 billion state surplus.

Both sessions concluded early, but not because of the type of partisan impasses that dogged former Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Legislators, for the most part, readily agreed to Jindal’s proposals, especially in the second session.

Even a bid to raise the ceiling on state spending proved far easier for Jindal than it did for Blanco.

The hurricanes that devastated thousands of families in south Louisiana generated record revenue for state government.

Storm victims rebuilt their homes and replaced their belongings, increasing sales tax revenue. Unemployment dropped and wages rose, resulting in plumper income tax collections.

Legislators encountered a constitutional stumbling block when they tried to spend the windfall.

There is a ceiling on state government spending called an expenditure limit, which is calculated based on the growth in Louisiana’s personal income over three years. Lifting the limit — which was necessary under Blanco and Jindal to spend the record revenue — requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

Blanco had trouble persuading lawmakers to raise the ceiling. At one point, she called the political struggle her Waterloo, a reference to the battle that ended Napoleon Bonaparte’s days as France’s ruler.

After barely an hour of debate on Wednesday, only two representatives voted against House Concurrent Resolution 1 to raise the ceiling to allow spending. The no votes were cast by state Reps. Chris Roy Jr., D-Alexandria, and Ernest Wooten, R-Belle Chasse.

Eight of the 39 state senators voted against HCR1 on Friday. The only one of the 16 Republicans in the upper chamber voting no was Sen. Neil Riser of Columbia. The seven of the Senate’s 23 Democrats voting  no were Sens. Don Cravins Jr., Opelousas; Yvonne Dorsey, Baton Rouge; Nick Gautreaux,  Meaux; Troy Hebert, Jeanerette; Eric LaFleur, Ville Platte; Cheryl Gray, New Orleans; and Joe McPherson, Woodworth.