Jindal turns eyes to business in sequel

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON AND WILL SENTELL
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 10, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Gov. Bobby Jindal told legislators Sunday night that Louisiana must recruit businesses and make existing businesses flourish.

“We should not be losing investment to other states in the South,” the governor said. “We should not be sitting on the sidelines of global economic competition while cities which were once small towns … become giants of economic vitality.”

Jindal kicked off a three-week special session in which he wants legislators to approve tax breaks for businesses and parents who send their children to private school.

He also is giving lawmakers the opportunity to spend a $1.1 billion state surplus from the state fiscal year that ended June 30.

This is Jindal’s second special session as governor, an office he has held since January. The session is scheduled to end just a few days ahead of the regular session.

As governor, Jindal sets the agenda for a special session. Some of his proposals build upon or resurrect issues that arose during Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s administration.

A few of the business tax breaks Jindal is pushing would be accelerations of phase-outs that Blanco advocated.

The private school tuition tax break is something that Blanco vetoed.

Jindal put a new spin on the school tax break by including parents who teach their children at home. The governor’s chief of staff was home-schooled for part of his childhood.

Throughout his special session speech, Jindal pointed to people in the audience to emphasize that his legislative package is about “real people, real businesses (and) real jobs.”

It was the type of touch utilized by President Bush in his congressional addresses.

Jindal pointed to Karen Kay with the Dow Chemical Company’s Angus Chemical Company, saying Dow pays $22 million more in taxes in Louisiana than in Texas because of the business utility tax.

Later in the speech, Donna Ryan with Pennington Biomedical Research Center stood on cue as Jindal talked about his proposal to spend $50 million on the Baton Rouge facility.