Louisiana

Louisiana Supreme Court issues new guidance to judges about legislator-lawyers seeking delays • Louisiana Illuminator

Published

3 weeks ago

November 1, 2024

Louisiana Supreme Court issues new guidance to judges about legislator-lawyers seeking delays • Louisiana Illuminator

by Julie O’Donoghue, Louisiana Illuminator
November 1, 2024

The Louisiana Supreme Court issued guidance to state judges Wednesday encouraging them to grant state lawmakers who are attorneys extensions on court proceedings during legislative sessions in most cases.

The court’s new rule comes less than a week after the justices declared unconstitutional a law that gave lawyers who legislators a similar but much broader benefit. The defunct statute had granted such lawmakers automatic delays in court actions when they interfered with a wider range of legislative duties, including travel to the State Capitol.

The justices were troubled the legislative continuance mandate had essentially no wiggle room. It did not give opposing counsel or judges the discretion to challenge a lawmaker’s request for a delay in a court case.

The Supreme Court’s new rule this week hems in the previous privilege for legislators in court while also instructing judges to err on the side of allowing legislators’ delays.

The guidance was issued somewhat urgently because the lawmakers are headed into a special legislative session Wednesday that is expected to last almost three weeks. Legislators who are attorneys have said they have court proceedings that will conflict with the special session calendar.

Votes during the session, which will be focused on tax policy, are also expected to be unusually close. This means parts of Gov. Jeff Landry’s tax package could fail if just one or two lawmakers are absent.

“It’s fair to say that the session did result with us moving with more deliberation than we would normally do,” Chief Justice John Weimer said about the rule in an interview Thursday.

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Under the new legislative continuance rule, opposing attorneys will now have the right to challenge when a lawmaker wants to reschedule court proceedings if they suspect it would cause an “unnecessary delay” or “increase the cost of litigation.” They can also ask for it to be denied if it would cause their client “substantial and immediate irreparable harm.”

Attorneys who are lawmakers will also face a new requirement when asking for a legislative continuance. They will have to provide an affidavit showing they will be attending the legislative session that causes a conflict with their court proceedings. The lawmaker will also have to demonstrate that he or she is an attorney actively working on the case in question.

Outside of legislative sessions, lawmakers will also only be able to obtain continuances if they present an affidavit that shows “good cause” for the delay. In the past, judges had no choice but to grant a legislative continuance, regardless of when it was requested.

The new restrictions the justices have imposed are supposed to address concerns raised by attorneys who aren’t lawmakers in recent years. They include that legislators sometimes enroll as counsel on cases where they don’t do much work to allow their side to take advantage of automatic delays. Another frustration is that cases drag on for years because lawmakers ask for multiple extensions.

The lawmaker complaining in the loudest, most public way about the Supreme Court overturning the state legislative continuance law also happens to be an attorney whose conduct led to the supreme court’s ruling.

“I think a working knowledge of civics is not required to serve on the Louisiana Supreme Court,” Sen. Alan Seabaugh said in an appearance on KEEL-AM in Shreveport. “The ruling that the court passed down last week is absolutely nonsensical.”

Two plaintiffs attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to throw out the legislative continuance statute after struggling to close an automobile accident lawsuit where they faced off against Seabaugh and state Rep. Michael Melerine, Shreveport Republicans who are partners in the same law practice.

The plaintiffs lawyers said Seabaugh and Melerine’s legislative extensions had unreasonably delayed resolution of their client’s lawsuit over six years. The court sided with the plaintiffs attorneys after describing Seabaugh’s unusual delays in the lawsuit as reprehensible.

Seabaugh has been a state lawmaker since 2012, including 12 years in the Louisiana House of Representatives before he was a stte senator. Melerine took Seabaugh’s seat in the House in January.

In the radio interview, Seabaugh alleged the court ruling was payback for lawmakers scuttling a new Louisiana Supreme Court district map some of the justices had favored.

“The fact of the matter is it was retaliation because of their redistricting plan, which the Senate killed twice,” Seabaugh said. “This was the Supreme Court flexing their muscle to the Legislature.”

“This was judicial activism at its worst,” he added

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Weimer said Seabaugh is “entitled to say whatever he wants,” but the justices didn’t throw out a law because they were upset about the Supreme Court district map.

“We don’t sit around anxiously waiting to strike down a law as unconstitutional,” Weimer said. “I make decisions based on logic and reason and not emotion.”

Though the ruling is less than a week old, Seabaugh and Melerine have already run into personal problems getting at least one trial rescheduled based on the newfound discretion to reject legislative extensions.

Judge Nicholas Gasper of the 42nd Judicial District Court in DeSoto Parish denied their motion to move a jury trial scheduled to start Monday because of the special session, which gets underway two days later, according to court filings.

Seabaugh and Melerine are appealing Gasper’s decision to Louisiana’s 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal.

Other legislators plan to try to resolve the legislative extension issue over the next few weeks. Bills will be filed in the special session to establish a new continuance law, said Sen. Greg Miller, R-Norco, who is an attorney.

“I want to keep the framework that we had but address the Supreme Court’s concerns” about abuses, Miller said in an interview Thursday.

Miller said he didn’t think the court’s new rule fully covers the problems that arise from conflicting legal and legislative schedules. For example, under the new rule, a judge could schedule a trial for the day after a legislative session ends, which would give an attorney who is a lawmaker little time to prepare.

“We are at the mercy of the courts,” he said.

Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, said the Supreme Court’s rule also doesn’t address scheduling conflicts the Legislature’s staff attorneys might have during session. Some work on private cases to supplement their incomes outside of the regular legislative session, he said.

The law declared unconstitutional also granted those legislative staff attorneys access to legislative continuances, but the court’s recent rule doesn’t, said Luneau, who is also a lawyer.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.

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Know the Foe: Gaining Louisiana Tech insight with BleedTechBlue

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5 hours ago

November 21, 2024

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Know the Foe: Gaining Louisiana Tech insight with BleedTechBlue

As we will do throughout this football season, HawgBeat went behind enemy lines to gain insight on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs with BleedTechBlue Publisher Ben Carlisle.

Louisiana Tech has been on a bit of a roller-coaster this season, as it defeated a team like Western Kentucky (7-3 record) and nearly beat NC State on the road, but the Bulldogs lost Tulsa, FIU and Sam Houston.

Under Cumbie’s leadership, Louisiana Tech has accumulated a 10-24 (7-16 CUSA) overall record in three seasons. This year, the Bulldogs boast the No. 104 total offense (344.4 YPG) and No. 61 passing offense (232.2 YPG) in the country.

Here is what Carlisle had to say about Saturday’s matchup, which is set to kick off at 3 p.m. CT at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville…

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Louisiana lawmakers search for ways to pay for Landry’s proposed income tax cut • Louisiana Illuminator

Published

13 hours ago

November 21, 2024

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Louisiana lawmakers search for ways to pay for Landry’s proposed income tax cut • Louisiana Illuminator

Gov. Jeff Landry’s ambitious plan to overhaul Louisiana’s tax structure has largely been pared down to a more modest goal – cutting state income taxes.

Lawmakers are working on a way to make sure the state can pay for that desired tax reduction while not having to make damaging cuts to areas such as health care and higher education.

Options include raising the state sales tax rate higher than it is now, retaining a higher corporate income tax rate than proposed or settling on an income tax cut that is smaller than Landry originally pitched weeks ago.

The governor wanted to move to a flat personal income tax rate of 3% – the highest rate currently is 4.25% – but it will cost the state more than $1 billion annually. Landry’s income tax plan also leaves the state approximately $700 million short of what is needed to cover the costs of government, according to senators.

Through his Revenue Secretary Richard Nelson, the governor had originally crafted a proposal that would exchange a broader base of tax collections for lower personal income and corporate taxes. Nelson said Louisiana would be able to pay for across-the-board personal income and corporate tax rate cuts totaling billions of dollars as long as the state scrapped generous business tax breaks and applied the sales tax to a greater range of products.

The governor has struggled to get lawmakers to fully embrace the trade off, however.

Legislators have eagerly voted for bills to cut corporate and personal income taxes but stalled on proposals to help make up for that lost revenue.

Landry’s tax package started to unravel last week when the Louisiana House of Representatives refused to vote for legislation that would extend the sales tax to more services, such as lawn care, home repair and dog grooming.

“Obviously, the services bill in its original form was a little over $500 million, which would equate to about a half a point on the personal income tax,” House Speaker Phillip Devillier, R-Eunice, said.

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This week, the Senate declined to fully roll back some of the state’s expensive business incentive programs, such as its movie and television tax credits and historic preservation tax breaks that collectively cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

A plan to eliminate a state inventory tax credit, which covers taxes businesses pay to local governments, has been delayed until 2026, and a proposal to increase a tax on heavy machinery and equipment used by industrial employers has also been scrapped.

If he doesn’t find a way to make up for that money, Landry runs the risk of revisiting the same political problems that plagued former Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Jindal also cut income taxes without replacing the lost revenue or finding a permanent way to cut government spending. His policy led to chronic budget problems for years and made the former governor deeply unpopular when he left office.

Senate leaders appear to be pushing for a higher state sales tax rate to help fill the hole left by the personal income tax cut.

It was scheduled to automatically drop from 4.45% to 4% in July, though Landry had already pitched keeping the extra 0.45% permanently as a way to cover the corporate and personal income tax reductions. Now, lawmakers are considering an even higher rate to cover the state’s expenses; 5% has been floated for a few days.

“This isn’t a tax-lowering session. This is a tax-reorganization session,” Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, said Wednesday.

Louisiana already has one of the highest average sales tax rates in the country, and that levy is a larger burden on poor people who have to pay the same rate as the wealthy. Very low-income households don’t pay income tax and won’t necessarily see benefits from cuts Landry and lawmakers make in that arena.

“As soon as you start to increase the sales tax more, the plan becomes more regressive,” said Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, leader of the House Democratic Caucus.

Several Republicans and Democrats in the House also weren’t enthusiastic about the sales tax portion of the original tax plan and might not want to vote for a 5% rate. A bill to keep the state sales tax at 4.4% barely passed the House, with just two votes to spare last week.

“That would be the top number we need for sales,” Sen. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge said Wednesday morning. “We don’t necessarily have the votes to do that yet. We need to get a tally of where things stand.”

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Lafayette Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, head of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said his party doesn’t want a higher sales tax rate, but Democrats also fear government programs they champion, like social services, will be targeted if they don’t support the proposal.

“We want to make sure the things that are important to us will be funded, right?” Boudreaux said Wednesday before he and other Democratic senators headed off to a meeting with Landry.

Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, was bullish on the legislators’ willingness to raise the sales tax to 5%.

“I think it can get there. It’s an easier path for that than it is for broadening the base,” he said.

If lawmakers aren’t willing to raise the sales tax more, legislators could look to retain more of the current corporate income tax rate, but they’ve already pulled back on an original plan to cut that tax dramatically.

Landry initially pitched replacing the graduated corporate tax rate that tops out at 7.5% with a flat 3%. But the senators moved that levy back up to 6% earlier this week to claw back some revenue. A further increase might be unlikely given pressure from business lobbyists.

Corporate taxes are also a notoriously unstable source of tax revenue. In part because sizable tax credits can be applied in any budget cycle, corporate tax collections have ranged from $193 million to $1.6 billion annually over the past 10 years, according to the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.

Legislators could also increase the personal income tax rate from 3% but seem very reluctant to do so. If it does go up, they would try to keep it to a small adjustment, like up to 3.1% or 3.2%.

“My belief is the personal income tax will, probably will, stay at 3(%),” said Foil, who heads the Senate committee that oversees tax policy.

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Arkansas vs. Louisiana Tech: Star comparison, PFF grades, season stats

Published

21 hours ago

November 20, 2024

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Arkansas vs. Louisiana Tech: Star comparison, PFF grades, season stats

The Arkansas Razorbacks (5-5, 3-4 SEC) will look to secure bowl eligibility Saturday against Louisiana Tech (4-6, 3-4 CUSA) at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

Hailing from Ruston, Louisiana, the Bulldogs will bring the nation’s No. 12 total defense with them to Fayetteville fresh off an upset win over Western Kentucky, which was leading the Conference USA standings prior to last Saturday.

“We’re catching them when I think they’re playing their best football,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said Monday. “They deliver some problems. The structure of their defense. They’re a 3-3-5 but it’s different because they have a robber, a rover — a guy basically who’s hard to get to to block. Who is a really, really good player. The (Kolbe) Fields kid.

“So offensively, they’re running the ball a lot better than they have all year. Not throwing it quite as much as what they did earlier in the year. Bu the transfer from Coffeyville (Omiri Wiggins) is a hard runner. Their line is playing well. They’ve got a lot of speed at wideout. So I think they’re going to come in with a lot of confidence, obviously, after their win last week. We’re excited to have them here and on senior day for us. But we know that was a big win for them last week and they’ll come in with a lot of confidence I’m sure.”

Arkansas is statistically better than the Bulldogs in generally every major offensive category, but the Louisiana Tech defense is stingy. Former Razorback Zach Zimos has logged nearly 500 snaps on the year at linebacker, which is a position he switched to after being a safety with the Razorbacks.

“He’d hit you,” Pittman said. “When he hit you, you got stuck. Certainly playing a different position than we had him here. But I like Zach, I always have. I’m happy for him. I think he’s one of the leaders over there. He’s played a lot of ball. I’m just really happy for him and he’s doing a good job. He’ll hit you, now, so we’ll have to figure that out.”

The Razorbacks will be trying to bounce back from a 20-10 loss to Texas that set them back to a .500 record on the season. A win over the Bulldogs would make Arkansas bowl eligible after the Hogs missed the postseason last year.

“This game, winning, if we can win, it will allow us to play not just another one but another one after that,” Pittman said. “And we just have to continue to improve. So I think that’s what we’ll talk about a little bit more than even what Louisiana Tech has been able to do lately.”

HawgBeat has also compared both teams’ grades from Pro Football Focus, which is a football analytics website that provides grades for each individual player and full teams after analyzing each game for all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. Grades are given from 0-100, with the higher the grade signifying better performance.

Here’s a look at how both teams stack up based on stats from this year and high school star ratings:

Offense

Louisiana Tech || Arkansas

Scoring: 21.9 (109th) | 30.7 (45th)

Total yards: 344.4 (104th) | 458.3 (11th)

Passing: 232.2 (61st) | 278.0 (20th)

Rushing: 112.2 (115th) | 180.3 (80th)

Third downs: 41.7% (57th) | 47.3% (15th)

Sacks allowed/game: 3.3 (122nd) | 3.1 (117th)

Turnovers: 19 (118th) | 17 (98th)

Defense

Louisiana Tech || Arkansas