BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Latest on Louisiana’s special session on taxes (all times local):
8:45 p.m.
The leader of the Louisiana House is urging lawmakers to continue tax talks and try to break a stalemate that threatens to collapse the third special session this year without a deal.
Republican House Speaker Taylor Barras said Thursday night his chamber is at an “extreme deadlock.” He told lawmakers: “What we need is movement from the two corners.”
Steep budget cuts across college campuses and state programs loom in July without additional revenue.
Gov. John Bel Edwards and House Democrats want to renew half an expiring 1 percent sales tax, a proposal previously backed by the Senate.
House Republican leaders are backing a 0.4 percent renewal rate.
A sales tax renewal will require a mix of Republican and Democratic votes to reach the two-thirds vote for passage.
The House returns Friday.
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6:10 p.m.
The Louisiana House has rejected a sales tax proposal that would have fully financed next year’s budget and kept agencies from steep cuts.
Lawmakers voted 60-40 for the bill, which needed 70 votes to pass. It would renew half of a 1 percent state sales tax expiring on July 1 to raise more than $500 million for the budget that starts the same day.
The proposal was sponsored by Baton Rouge Republican Rep. Paula Davis. But the bill was rewritten by lawmakers on the House floor, boosted from Davis’ initial proposal of a 0.4 percent renewal. Davis didn’t support the rewrite.
Republican House Speaker Taylor Barras and House GOP leader Lance Harris, along with many Republicans in the chamber, voted against the measure.
Tax negotiations continue. The special session must end June 27.
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1 p.m.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that paves the way for states to collect sales taxes from online purchases has upended shaky tax negotiations among lawmakers in the Louisiana House.
Louisiana has laws aimed at being able to take in taxes from online shoppers.
It’s unclear when or if those collections could begin legally, or how much the treasury could bring in. But the ruling was a central topic of discussion Thursday in the House, where lawmakers had planned to debate several sales tax measures aimed at lessening steep budget cuts hitting in July.
Lafayette Republican Rep. Stuart Bishop pulled his sales tax proposal from consideration, saying he couldn’t reach the two-thirds vote for passage. He says the court ruling made reaching the threshold harder.
Other sales tax bills remained on the calendar.
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