(The Center Square) − On Saturday, Louisiana voters approved Constitutional Amendment 2, ushering in new rules to prevent the kind of last-minute budget rush that drew criticism during the 2023 legislative session.
That year, lawmakers passed more than $52 billion in appropriations bills in the final half-hour of the session, with many admitting they had little understanding of what the spending measures contained.
Despite the uncertainty and imprecise nature of many of the funding bills, lawmakers waived a 48-hour review period meant to provide time for scrutiny. They also voted to bypass the state’s constitutional expenditure limit.
“This is a tactic regularly used in the Legislature that is used to put things in amendments in conference at the last minute and have just a few minutes to read a bill,” Daniel Erspamer, CEO of the Pelican Institute said. “It’s the whole ‘we have to pass it to see what’s in it’ mindset.”
With the passage of the amendment, state lawmakers will now be required to wait at least 48 hours before taking a final vote on any appropriations bill, including those amended by the Senate or finalized through conference committees.
The delay will also mandate that legislators receive a summary of proposed changes to the bills at least two days in advance. Unlike the previous rule, which could be waived with a majority vote, the new requirement is mandatory and enshrined in the state constitution.
The voters also passed Amendment 3, which compliments Amendment 2, by allowing lawmakers to extend a regular legislative session up to six days if more time is needed to allocate funding.
Fiscal responsibility and transparency is commanding the focus of federal policy as well.
President-Elect Donald Trump has touted his soon-to-be established Department of Governmental Efficiency as an agency which will “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.”
Trump has chosen former Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and polymathic entrepreneur Elon Musk as the agency’s leads.
According to Trump, the Musk-Ramaswamy duo “will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement.”
Gov. Jeff Landry has also joined in on the fiscal responsibility cause.
In a letter to Senate President Cameron Henry and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, Landry asked the legislators to join him in the creation of a “Fiscal Responsibility Program.”
The program “would begin with first examining the current services. State government is mandated to perform and probe for the most efficient modern ways to provide those services,” Landry wrote in a letter to Henry and DeVillier. “This project can also explore whether those services should still exist and what other services our government might perform to give the best possible service at the lowest most reasonable cost.”
A theme noticeable among the four amendments passed over the weekend is one of accountability.
Louisiana voters approved expanding the Judiciary Commission and granting the Louisiana Supreme Court greater authority in overseeing judicial misconduct investigations.
The amendment increases the commission’s size from nine to 14 members, adding appointees from legislative leaders and the governor, and allows the Supreme Court to initiate investigations and temporarily disqualify judges without waiting for commission recommendations.
