Curtain rises on session: Will it fall on a budget deal?

BATON ROUGE — It may not be doomsday here as the Legislature opened a Special Session called by Gov. John Bel Edwards late Monday, but it could be D-Day.

"This is now the fifth time I have called you into a special session," Edwards said in his speech to lawmakers opening the session. "And if we all work together, I’m actually optimistic this could be the last."

Maybe, but it remains unclear whether or not lawmakers will agree to raise enough permanent new taxes to avoid Edwards calling another special session in the summer.

If they don't, the governor has warned, a doomsday budget scenario looms that would decimate the popular scholarship program TOPS and necessitate deep cuts to health care.

"There are thousands of parents who lie awake at night waiting for us to act, so they can prepare to send their kids off to college next fall," he said. "There are students currently on TOPS and even more high school students who are about to start college who need to know what their tuition will be next fall and if they’ll have the support of TOPS."

Edwards wants the Legislature to raise $994 million in permanent taxes to partially replace the $1.3 billion in temporary taxes that roll off of the books June 30. The largest portion is a temporary one-cent sales tax that generates more than $800 million annually.

The Deep South's only Democratic governor has been meeting with Republican House Speaker Taylor Barras of New Iberia and other GOP leaders for weeks to reach some kind of deal.

All are optimistic, but a final solution remains elusive.

"Every step we have taken in preparation for this session is to ensure that we get the job done," Edwards said in his speech. "And that we get it done right. And that we get it done now. I am optimistic that we can do it."

So is House GOP Caucus Chairman Lance Harris of Alexandria, but not without spending reforms favored by the Republicans like work requirements for Medicaid and a website that would allow taxpayers to track every public penny spent.

"I believe we're going to meet in a compromise, but we can't agree to any new revenue without spending reforms," Harris told the USA Today Network Monday.

That revenue could come in the form of keeping part of the temporary sales tax penny, the removal of exemptions from other sales taxes, called "cleaning pennies," and other measures, but it almost certainly won't come in income tax hikes as the governor prefers.

Still, on the first day of the session, like the first day of school, the outlook was optimistic.

"I think we're closer than we have ever been," said House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Reynolds of Minden.

And all would prefer to avoid a summer special session with the barrel of the budget staring down the Capitol.

"If we wait until June, our economy, too, will take a hit," Edwards said. "The rating agencies that have downgraded our credit over the last several years will again consider whether we will ever have a stable budget. Our partner hospitals, with thousands of private sector employees, would be forced to issue layoff notices because of this uncertainty."

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1