Special Legislative Session Costs Louisiana Taxpayers $1.1M
The recently concluded special session of the Louisiana legislature was called so lawmakers could help our state deal with hurricane recovery and COVID-19. When the dust was settled a lot was said but apparently, not a lot got done. At least if you ask the average Louisiana resident.
Okay, I will give our hired hands in Baton Rouge a gold star for their efforts in fast-tracking hurricane recovery dollars to the hardest-hit areas of our state. In most cases, recovery efforts were debated efficiently and quickly and aid was directed where was needed the most.
The COVID-19 part of the special session appeared to be more about political posturing than actual policymaking. Republican House members created that petition that we read so much about. That petition couldn't stand up to the scrutiny of the courts so basically all it did was confuse people over what they should or shouldn't be doing where COVID is concerned.
Of course, all of this great legislating came with a price tag. That tag shows a final figure of over $1.1 million dollars. The session ran from September 28th through October 23rd.
So, basically, it lasted 30 days. Not all of those days were workdays, at least in Baton Rouge. Based on those numbers that special session cost Louisiana taxpayers a little over $36,000. That number is higher if we factor out the weekends but I didn't want you to be too upset.(It's almost $50,000 a day!).
In case you're wondering the next regular session of the Louisiana Legislature is scheduled to be gaveled into session on April 12. Just think, we're saving $50,000 a day by them not going to work.
Of the legislation that was passed, Governor Edwards vetoed about 15% of that. I do hope that you will pardon me if I feel like I got less than my money's worth on this special session. It wasn't all bad, but for the most part, it wasn't very good. That's my opinion, we'd love to know yours.
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