The Louisiana Legislature recently approved a constitutional amendment that would make it easier to send children to adult jails. Current law already allows prosecutors to charge juvenile offenders as adults for certain violent crimes, but Amendment 3 would expand that discretion to any felonies. State voters will decide whether to enact the new policy on their March 29 ballot. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Julie O’Donoghue reports on the amendment and serious concerns from juvenile justice advocates:
Child advocates oppose the amendment, citing studies and criminal data showing that harsher sentences for minors don’t improve public safety or stop them from committing crimes. Teenagers, whose brains haven’t fully developed, don’t have the same reasoning ability as adults and don’t understand the consequences of criminal behavior, said Mary Livers, who ran the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice for former Gov. Bobby Jindal. “That’s why you have a whole juvenile justice system,” Livers said. “They don’t respond the same way to adult-type expectations.”
Studying the impact of data centers
Last week, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson created a workgroup to study the energy and economic impacts of data centers. While the Evergreen State has issued massive tax breaks for the new industry in recent years, previous attempts to study how these centers affected energy use, state tax revenue and job creation were blocked by Ferguson’s predecessor. ProPublica and the Seattle Times report:
In addition to examining energy use, Ferguson’s office said the workgroup will review data on job creation in the industry — a key measure for understanding the success of Washington’s tax incentive program, which has been shielded from transparency and accountability for years. It’s unclear how many high-paying tech jobs the tax break has created at individual data centers because state revenue officials aren’t allowed to say. The group is tasked with producing findings and recommendations by December, according to the governor’s office.
Louisiana Economic Development announced in December that Meta had selected the northeast region of the state as the site of a $10 billion artificial intelligence data center. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Stephanie Riegel recently reported how state leaders reworked tax incentives across two legislative sessions to secure the project.
Raising the cost of health coverage
Congressional leaders are targeting tax credits that made health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace more affordable and insulated people from large costs due to unexpected changes in income. The moves are part of a larger effort by conservatives to cut programs that primarily benefit the poor to partially offset the massive cost of tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy and large corporations. Claire Heyison of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports:
Letting these enhancements expire at the end of 2025 would be massively disruptive on its own: premiums for nearly all enrollees would rise significantly and some 4 million people would become uninsured. If the enhanced (premium tax credits) are eliminated in tandem with eliminating repayment caps, people with low and moderate incomes would face severe financial burden from both policies: without the enhanced PTC and repayment caps, they would face higher percentage increases in their premiums and could owe back a larger share of their income, compared to higher-income enrollees.
Jobs, revenue threatened by offshore wind order
An executive order by President Donald Trump pausing offshore wind leases in federal waters could have long-term consequences for Louisiana’s economy. The Times Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Josie Abugov explains how the order threatens Louisiana jobs and revenue sources:
[Sen. Bill] Cassidy, [Rep. Steve] Scalise and [Rep. Troy] Carter have sponsored bills in Congress that would allow states to share in revenue from offshore wind while also increasing the amount received from oil and gas production. In November, Louisiana voters approved a constitutional amendment dedicating future offshore wind revenue to coastal restoration and protection, an initiative sponsored by Orgeron.
Number of the Day
1.2% – Percentage share of the federal budget that was spent on foreign aid during the 2023 fiscal year. (Source: Pew Research Center)