The overwhelming rejection of Amendment 2 showed Gov. Jeff Landry and his legislative allies that voters did not have the appetite for a rushed, complex and opaque overhaul of the state constitution. But the amendment’s defeat doesn’t mean that everything that was contained in the sprawling 115-page document was bad. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s editorial board lays out three parts of the package that legislators should salvage, including a teacher pay raise:
The teacher pay raise can and should be accomplished statutorily, one way or another, in the coming legislative session. Although it was technically time-limited when first introduced, nobody ever really expected it to disappear. Attracting and keeping good teachers should always be a priority. Before the $2,000 addition, the average teacher pay in Louisiana of around $54,000 was substantially below the southern average of more than $59,000, according to the Southern Regional Education Board. To be competitive, Louisiana needs to keep the $2,000 and add more on top.
Banning soda for SNAP recipients
Senate Bill 14 by Sen. Patrick McMath would, among other things, require Louisiana to submit a federal waiver that prohibits the purchase of soft drinks with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Emily Woodruff provides background on the effort:
While Louisiana has not yet submitted its waiver, the bill aligns the state with more than two dozen other states that have taken similar steps. Supporters argue that allowing sugary sodas to be purchased with taxpayer-funded benefits drives poor health outcomes and increases health care costs over time. Soda and other sugary snacks have been a point of contention in the program for decades. In Louisiana, a previous attempt to restrict soda purchases through SNAP stalled last year. The USDA has been reluctant to approve such waivers in the past because it’s hard to implement.
Woodruff reports on concerns that soft-drink bans could have unintended consequences:
There is little research on whether removing soda from SNAP benefits makes people healthier, said Chen Zhen, a professor of food choice, obesity, and health at the University of Georgia. Zhen said it’s possible that such restrictions could complicate access to food benefits or encourage them to reach for other less healthy choices.
Senate budget blueprint advances
A budget resolution that passed the U.S. Senate on Saturday would permanently extend the 2017 Trump tax law, which heavily favored the wealthy and large corporations. The measure would cost $5 trillion over the next decade, and received pushback from two Senate Republicans who were concerned that it raised the debt ceiling too much and allowed for drastic cuts to Medicaid. The Washington Post’s Theodoric Meyer and Maegan Vazquez report that the resolution faces an uphill battle in the House:
The framework now moves to the House, which must pass it before lawmakers can start working on the bill itself. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and House Republican leaders said Saturday that they would take the framework up the coming week — but numerous House Republicans have said they plan to vote against the framework, enough to stop it from passing. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) criticized the Senate’s version of the framework for not doing enough to cut spending, calling it “unserious and disappointing.”
Some senators expressed concerns about a budget gimmick, known as “current policy baseline,” that GOP leaders are using to not count the cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts in budget math:
“The practical consequences of this is that using ‘current policy’ increases the cost of this bill by $3.8 trillion,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) said on the Senate floor. “It establishes a dangerous precedent. It might be within the rules to do so, but it doesn’t mean that it is wise to do so. And to be a conservative is to know that sometimes you don’t open Pandora’s box, even if you can.”
Steve Wamhoff of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy provides more background on the effort to not count the cost of the tax cuts:
States unprepared for FEMA overhaul
The Trump administration is proposing to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency by shifting most of the financial responsibility of recovering from natural disasters from the federal government to states. FEMA is cancelling grants that help states prepare for future disasters, and federal dollars that help states rebuild after extreme-weather events are also in the White House’ crosshairs. As Anna Phillips, Jake Spring, Kevin Crowe and Dan Diamond of The Washington Post explain, the policy shift is creating anxiety for state leaders:
Some emergency management experts say the president’s proposal to shift the financial responsibility of responding to those disasters to states could prompt chaos in state capitals and city governments, forcing messy political fights about how to pay for disaster relief and fund preparedness offices. A key reason is that, since FEMA’s creation in 1979, states have come to rely on the agency to pay for their emergency management agencies’ day-to-day operations. In North Dakota, Homeland Security Division Director Darin Hanson said he expects about 89 percent of the division’s budget in the next two years will come from FEMA, paying for 28 of the division’s 45 full-time employees.
It will take time for states to adjust to the new reality of disaster recovery. But as the Post’s team explains, time is not a luxury that state leaders have:
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem and other administration officials expressed support for stripping the agency of some of its main functions by Oct. 1, such as helping rebuild after disasters strike.
Number of the Day
48,228 – Number of Louisiana students who are receiving a TOPS scholarship during the 2024-25 academic year, a 10-year low. (Source: Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance)