Louisiana
How much will Gov. Jeff Landry’s criminal justice changes cost? State officials can’t say. – Louisiana Illuminator
Gov. Jeff Landry has been clear about everything in his criminal justice package — except how much his proposals could ultimately cost Louisiana taxpayers.
At the behest of Landry, state lawmakers are swiftly pushing public safety bills through a special session of the Louisiana Legislature without knowing what the price tag for those tough-on-crime measures will be.
The Legislature’s financial analysts have not released cost estimates for Landry’s proposals, which are on a fast track to become law by the end of the week. Republican lawmakers sponsoring the bills have said the expense of the legislation ultimately isn’t relevant.
“I think people want to be safe and people are willing to spend money to be safe,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, who oversees state spending for the Legislature. “I’m inclined to think the benefits will outweigh the costs.”
But the budget impact of legislation from Landry’s crime special session looks to be substantial at a time where Louisiana is already coping with budget shortfalls.
The governor backs proposals to lengthen prison sentences and make it harder for incarcerated people to be released. The measures will likely increase Louisiana’s inmate population and cost the state more money for years to come.
Thirteen of Landry’s 21 criminal justice bills that are more than halfway through the legislative process would add to state spending, according to fiscal notes attached to the legislation. Budget analysts said those items would cause an “indeterminable increase” in the state’s financial obligations.
Bills to lengthen prison sentences for carjacking, increase penalties for illegal use of a weapon and almost entirely eliminate parole are among the most expensive. They could, in theory, grow the prison system’s expenses by more than $11 million each per year if the harshest sentences are almost always given out, according to the analysts.
‘We will find a way…’
Republicans backing the legislation say the costs are worth it because public safety is essential.
“Where there is a priority, we will find a way to pay for it,” said Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, a former prosecutor and sponsor of legislation to eliminate parole.
“I’m not touting this as a fiscally responsible bill, right?” Villio said during debate in the House of Representatives over her proposal last week.
Those added expenses for the prison system could exacerbate future state budget gaps.
Louisiana expects to face annual financial shortfalls of over half a billion dollars starting in 2025. A 0.45% portion of the state sales tax expires next year that will leave the state short on money, and Landry’s additional public safety spending would make it harder to close those budget holes.
Landry also has other expensive public safety measures in the works. He also launched a plan to add a state police troop in New Orleans that is expected to cost $10 million over just the next four months.
“My question is where are we going to find the money to pay for this?” Senate President Pro Tempore Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, said.
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GOP cutbacks
Over the past year, Republicans have been willing to pick over several other budget proposals in the name of fiscal responsibility.
Due to the planned sales tax cut next year, Landry and GOP lawmakers have said they don’t think the state can afford to give public school teachers a permanent raise.
The governor also stripped funding for several programs, including domestic violence shelters, from his state budget proposal in an effort to cut public spending. Landry also issued an executive order last month directing state agency heads to look for savings and budget cuts within their own departments.
The governor’s own public safety bills haven’t been subjected to the same scrutiny.
“I haven’t seen that [cash] machine yet, but we’ve got some money coming from somewhere,” Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, joked last week during a discussion of the financial impact of Landry’s crime legislation. “I don’t want to get to the point where we ignore the fiscal part of these plans.”
Lawmakers are moving the governor’s public safety bills so fast that the fiscal analyses of proposals haven’t even been completed.
Legislative staff are still waiting on information from the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, the Louisiana Sheriffs Association and the Louisiana District Attorneys Association to finish their financial impact reports for nine bills, according to their notes.
‘They’ll issue a blank check’
The lack of data hasn’t stopped the legislation from moving forward. The proposals are expected to get their final votes before the end of the week.
“Conservatives, especially, when it comes to public safety, they’ll issue a blank check,” said Scott Peyton, director of Right on Crime, a conservative organization that advocates for less incarceration.
A few Republican lawmakers also said they expect the financial impact of lengthening prison sentences to not be as extreme as the legislative analyses suggest. More severe sentencing should deter people from committing crimes in the first place, they said.
“People should be less willing to commit crimes if the penalties are stiffened,” said Sen. Glen Womack, R-Harrisonburg, who is the head of the Senate Finance Committee that oversees the budget.
Studies show increasing criminal penalties doesn’t correlate to a safer public, however. Over the past 20 years, 19 states — including Texas and Mississippi — lowered their prison populations and crime rates by investing in rehabilitative programs for formerly incarcerated people and prison alternatives, according to the Vera Institute for Justice, an organization advocating for less incarceration.
“Research consistently shows that higher incarceration rates are not associated with lower violent crime rates,” wrote Don Stemen, with the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Loyola University Chicago, in a report for Vera.
Louisiana also tried the tough-on-crime approach for decades with little success. For 30 years, legislators ramped up penalties and prison sentences to try to make the state safer, but the states continued to have one of the country’s highest crime rates.
Former Gov. John Bel Edwards decided to change that approach in 2017, when he and state lawmakers decided to cut prison sentences and greatly expand parole and probation opportunities. The new bipartisan strategy allowed the state to save millions of dollars on incarceration expenses over seven years, while diverting money into crime prevention programs and victim services.
Yet Landry has blamed Edwards crime justice overhaul for the spike in violent crime that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Republicans are also frustrated by ongoing problems with teenagers in the juvenile justice system who have destroyed and escaped from state facilities around Louisiana.
“We keep talking about the financial costs of these bills… but investing in these bills is investing in saving lives,” said Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, who supports Landry’s criminal justice package.
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Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Louisiana Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at Louisiana Lottery offices. Prizes of over $5,000 must be claimed at Lottery office.
By mail, follow these instructions:
- Sign and complete the information on the back of your winning ticket, ensuring all barcodes are clearly visible (remove all scratch-off material from scratch-off tickets).
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- Photocopy your valid driver’s license or current picture identification.
Mail all of the above in a single envelope to:
Louisiana Lottery Headquarters
555 Laurel Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70801
To submit in person, visit Louisiana Lottery headquarters:
555 Laurel Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801, (225) 297-2000.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.
Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Louisiana Lottery.
When are the Louisiana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3, Pick 4 and Pick 5: Daily at 9:59 p.m. CT.
- Easy 5: 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday and Saturday.
- Lotto: 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Louisiana editor. You can send feedback using this form.
NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana National Guard announced Monday that 120 troops will remain deployed in New Orleans through August.
The six-month extension comes after 350 Guard members deployed to New Orleans in late December, in the run-up to New Year’s and other high-profile events like the Sugar Bowl. The troops, which had mainly clustered in the city’s historic French Quarter, had been scheduled to depart in the aftermath of Mardi Gras.
New Orleans is one of several Democrat-run cities, such as Washington and Memphis, Tennessee, where the federal government deployed armed troops under the administration of President Donald Trump. Hundreds of federal agents also converged on Louisiana in December as part of a separate immigration crackdown in and around New Orleans.
During his State of the Union address last week, Trump touted the deployment in New Orleans as a “big success.” In January, Trump credited the troops with reducing the city’s violent crime within a week of their deployment. City police data shows violent crime rates have significantly declined over the past three years in parallel with national trends.
According to a press statement from the Louisiana National Guard, the remaining guard members will serve as a “visible presence to deter criminal activity in New Orleans.”
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, a Democrat who initially opposed the deployment, said that the troops would benefit the city in the coming weeks. She pointed out that National Guard troops had assisted the city during last year’s Mardi Gras in the aftermath of a vehicle-ramming attack in the French Quarter that killed 14 people on New Year’s Day.
“I continue to support the partnership with the LA National Guard to assist in our major events and there are several coming up in the next few weeks,” Moreno said in a statement.
While Moreno did not address which events she referred to, visitors flock to New Orleans in the spring for events like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican and staunch Trump ally, requested the deployment of the National Guard last September, citing rising violent crime rates in New Orleans despite the data showing crime was down.
“This continued deployment will help us combat violence in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana,” Landry wrote on the social platform X on Monday, noting Louisiana had also sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., last year.
Kate Kelly, a spokesperson for Landry, said the federal government would cover the cost of the extended deployment. She did not respond to a question about whether Guard members would be deployed outside New Orleans.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Friloux, adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, said in a statement the troops had already worked closely with other city, state and federal agencies to improve public safety during a stretch of high-profile events in the city, including the flood of visitors over Mardi Gras and the city’s carnival season.
“We remain committed to those partnerships as we continue supporting efforts to keep the City of New Orleans safe for residents and visitors,” Friloux said.
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Jury selection begins Monday in what prosecutors describe as one of the largest auto insurance fraud cases in Louisiana history, with two local attorneys set to stand trial on charges that include fraud and obstruction of justice.
Attorneys Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles are accused in an alleged scheme in which drivers — referred to as “slammers” — were paid to intentionally crash into 18-wheelers, file injury lawsuits and allow attorneys to collect the settlements. Both have pleaded not guilty.
63 people have been charged in the case. Many have already pleaded guilty. Motta and Giles are being tried together.
Criminal defense attorney Craig Mordock, who is not directly involved in the case but has been following it closely, said the scope of the litigation is significant.
“You have 10 years of personal injury cases and almost… almost a billion dollars in recovery. That’s all at issue,” Mordock said. “So yeah, this could go two to three weeks.”
Motta’s defense team has advanced a narrative that she was manipulated by a co-defendant.
“There is a compelling narrative that’s been advanced by Vanessa Motta’s lawyer in terms of her being manipulated by one of the co-defendants… about being manipulated by him and him having a prior federal conviction for fraud,” Mordock said.
Motta’s team originally claimed she did not know the crashes were staged. In 2024, her team told FOX 8 she is the victim.
Mordock said Giles faces a more difficult defense.
“I don’t see a favorable juror for one of the other lawyer defendants, Jason Giles. There’s not a clear theory of innocence. This is basically a standard white-collar prosecution where knowledge and intent are going to be the issue,” Mordock said.
The case carries what Mordock described as a shadow. In September 2020, key witness Cornelious Garrison was killed in New Orleans four days after his name appeared in an indictment. Garrison’s admitted killer, Ryan Harris, is expected to testify.
The judge in the case is also allowing the slain witness’s recorded descriptions of the alleged scheme to be admitted at trial.
Mordock said Louisiana drivers have a direct stake in the outcome.
“As your average Louisianan, the idea would be you would save… because the people committing this fraud have been wrapped up. The insurance companies are going to know how to look for this,” Mordock said.
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