As Louisiana lawmakers prepare to pre-file bills for the upcoming legislative session, we’re certain to see the usual efforts to increase penalties for minor offenses in the guise of getting tough on crime.
There will also be the familiar bills that seek special consideration for a few individuals – in some cases, only a single person.
And, of course, there will be the never-ending slew of congratulatory resolutions honoring the reigning Queen Pullet from some obscure Chicken Festival somewhere in the state and a host of recipients of other similar awards.
A visitor to the gallery of either chamber will see representatives or senators leaning back in their chairs laughing and talking or checking text messages for dinner appointments or gazing at their computers for online NASCAR standings – anything other than listening to the speaker at the microphone trying to explain his or her bill.
Downstairs, it’s even worse. That’s where the committee rooms are and watching this show can be a real test of endurance – especially if you’re one of the unfortunate ones attempting to speak to a particular committee. You will see committee members drifting in an out of the room or whispering to each other while you are testifying – anything but paying attention to your words. There’s a reason for this: their minds are already made up – or made up for them with campaign cash from special interest groups.
Of course, there are also the crawfish boils, fish fries, parties and dinners that go with any legislative session, hosted by generous lobbyists who are interested in nothing more than assuring that good government prevails in the gret stet of Looziana.
You may even see someone do as the late Rep. Shady Wall of West Monroe was caught doing back in 1981. A reporter casually observing a series of votes by the full House noticed that Wall uncharacteristically voted Yes on every issue. Something of a maverick, he was known for agitating fellow members by challenging legislation on mere technicalities, so it was unusual to see him voting in favor of every measure.
The reporter eased to the back of the chamber until he was even with Wall’s desk. Wall was nowhere to be seen. Assuming his desk mate was voting in his absence, the reporter watched and waited until the next vote. The House tally showed yet another Yes vote for Wall but no one was at his desk, not even his desk mate. A closer look revealed a stack of books and papers on Wall’s desk and wedged between the stack and the “Yes” button on his desk was a yellow pencil, holding the “Yes” button down permanently. Wall had already gone for the day.
When the reporter took a picture of the pencil, it ran on Page One of the Ouachita Citizen, Wall’s home town paper. He did not run for reelection. It’s unclear if that photo had anything to do with his decision not to seek reelection, but I was immensely proud of having taken that photo with my 200mm lens.
But back to the present day. What you most likely won’t see is any serious discussion or any real legislative efforts to address the most serious problems that this state faces: the environment, education, infrastructure, health care, the economy. We are quite likely to see a continuation of the same song and dance we have seen for decades.
Perhaps that is the reason that the latest RANKING OF STATES by US News & World Report puts Louisiana dead last – for at least the fifth year in a row (maybe longer than that but the story linked above only goes back to 2017).
There was a time we enjoyed the joke that said, “At least we’re not Mississippi.” It was a cute way of deflecting attention from the fact that we were near the bottom in all the rankings of good things and close to the top of the lists of bad things.
But now, in Mississippi, they’re saying, “At least we aren’t Louisiana.”
Among a list of eight metrics considered in the ranking process, the highest Louisiana got was number 42 in fiscal stability. Alaska was best in the country in that factor.
Below is the state’s rank in each of the areas considered with the state with the highest ranking in parenthesis:
HEALTH CARE 46 (Hawaii)
EDUCATION 48 (New Jersey)
ECONOMY 47 (Utah)
INFRASTRUCTURE 47 (Nevada)
OPPORTUNITY 48 (Iowa)
FISCAL STABILITY 42 (Alaska)
CRIME & CORRECTIONS 50 (New Hampshire)
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 49 (Hawaii)
Here are Mississippi’s rankings in each of the same metrics:
50, 43, 49, 48, 44, 41, 33, 22
Remember this as you watch the progression of this year’s 60-day session which convenes at noon on April 12 and adjourns on June 10 at 6 p.m.
And remember: the Senate normally does not meet on Fridays which, along with Saturdays and Sundays, are all considered part of the entire 60-day session. Legislators receive their $160 per diem payments for each of those 60 days – even those long weekends.
Louisiana Voice 
You didn’t mention the Legislature’s certain attack on Minority (read Democrat) voting Rights that every other republican dominated state legislature has already undertaken.
You are correct, I did not. That’s because I’m hoping against hope that none of our legislators will be that stupid, that racist, that openly supportive of more repressive government.
Of course, I know that’s a lot to hope for these days. No such bill has been pre-filed yet, but I’m monitoring legislative activity every day.
I am again reminded of a joke EWE used to tell about his first campaign for governor: He walked into a country store where several old guys sat around a cast iron stove and said, “The 2 biggest problems facing Louisiana are ignorance and apathy”, to which one of the guys replied, “Well, I don’t know and I don’t care.” The crux of this story has been true in our state for decades and, as long as our elected officials behave in accordance with its truth (cater to ignorance rather than try to correct it and assume apathy is a given) we will not change. Simple. True.
Unfortunately what EWE was joking about is so often true in Louisiana.
The azaleas are about to bloom and there is hope we can avoid a cold snap to prevent it. No such luck with the Louisiana legislature. There will have be neither blooms nor hope.
I think the Shady Wall/Earl Long/John McKeithen/Jimmie Davis days were much better than our current Republicans’ dominations. Shady Wall was like family to us in Monroe. I know you know this but his wife was Lalladge or Ms. Feazell and her daddy would not allow Lalla to marry Shady as long as he was alive. I do not see any real effort in this session, too much emphasis on $$$ and who is running next. I surely enjoyed the “old” days. ron thompson
Every disaster is also an opportunity: The Democrats need to lay out a long term plan as to how to make real improvements.
I don’t have the expertise to do that, but my guess is that it would start with K-12 education emphasizing the importance of, and benefits of, being a productive citizen. Improving motivation and preparing kids for the trades as well as college will lead to more kids staying in school and a higher quality work force.
That would certainly be a good start. It is encouraging that our “newspaper of record” (as Engster says) has seen fit to do a piece on this today.
Unfortunately, publication of these facts will do no good until our elected officials feel the threat of losing power.
Do the bulk of our citizens care enough to raise hell about this? I don’t know, but I do know I posted a brief essay about it on Facebook a few days ago with a link to the survey and got NO reaction whatsoever, so I have to think apathy continues to prevail and, as far as most people are concerned, it’s all good – except Biden and liberals in general, of course. People may not pay attention to newspapers or other sources of factual information, but they love Facebook.
Ron Thompson:
As you know, Uncle Earl famously said, “Someday Louisiana is going to get ‘Good Government’ and when they do, they ain’t going to like it.” Buddy Roemer fulfilled that prophecy and he was the last one to try. His main mistake was switching parties to try to win re-election and he saw how well that worked for him.
At least in the days you mentioned some of our elected officials actually cared more about us than themselves. I’m not convinced many do anymore. I’d be happy if they just took to heart some of the lyrics in the Randy Newman song, “Mr. President.”