Bill would place mineral revenue issue back on ballot
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A proposed constitutional amendment that would give East Baton Rouge and some other area parishes a greater share of state mineral revenues cleared the Louisiana Senate on Thursday.
Similar legislation has already passed the Louisiana House. One of the measures must pass both houses in order for the proposition to head to the ballot Nov. 2, 2010, for voter approval.
State voters rejected the idea last year but proponents are trying again to get the issue on the ballot.
State Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Grosse Tete, sponsor of the Senate Bill 21, said voters thought the proposition was a tax increase last year because of ballot language.
Today, 20 percent of severance tax revenues on natural resources other than sulfur, lignite or timber go to the parishes in which production occurs, up to a maximum of $850,000 a year. About two dozen parishes around the state get the dollars from severance tax collections.
Marionneaux’s proposal started out increasing the maximum amount to $1.85 million in the 2010-11 state budget year, then $2.85 million in the next budget year.
The Senate adopted two amendments — one offered by Marionneaux — that would delay that time schedule for increased payments because of current and projected state budget shortfalls.
State Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, still complained about the financial hit the state would take when it is implemented.
“This is a $60 million drain on the (state) treasury going to less than half of the total parishes in the state,” said McPherson. “They already have $850,000 the other parishes don’t have.”
Marionneaux invited McPherson to come Iberville Parish in his legislative district — one of the parishes to benefit from the proposed change.
“We are closing down schools, we have 85 percent of public schoolchildren on reduced lunch. We are not affluent or some rich parish,” Marionneaux said. He said the parish’s infrastructure is harmed by the activity surrounding the natural resource production.
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