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Central pieces of tax swap plan stalled in Louisiana House MELINDA DESLATTE, Associated Press FacebookTwitterEmail FILE - In this April 12, 2021 file photo, Sen. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, talks with Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, during opening day of the Louisiana legislative session in Baton Rouge, La. Republican House leaders planned to try again Thursday, May 20 to pass a complicated income tax swap that is the centerpiece of a bid to overhaul Louisiana’s tax structure, hoping to salvage the effort as time runs short in the legislative sess...

(The Center Square) – With little public discussion and no dissent, the Louisiana House approved a $4.9 billion multiyear construction budget Thursday.

“I’m not Santa Claus,” Lafayette Republican Rep. Stuart Bishop said. “Sometimes, I’m the Grinch.” Bishop, who as House Ways and Means Committee chair sponsors the annual construction budget found in House Bill 2, said he worked hard to ensure members would get projects to help stimulate the economy in their districts, while using most of the available state surplus. He said he focused on roads and bridges, drinking water, ports and airports. Bishop said he also prioritized finishing previously funded projects because he didn’t want “engineers or contractors to be hanging out ...

While the budget package has exited the House and is on the move, there are a few lingering issues that still need to be addressed.

Alford: Tax reform easier said than done This week marks the midpoint of the Louisiana Legislature’s regular session, so lawmakers are halfway to somewhere. I wish I could offer a more precise big-picture snapshot of the session, but a review of the leadership’s top priorities offers a mixed bag of progress. While the budget package has exited the House and is on the move, there are a few lingering issues that still need to be addressed. Conservatives in the lower chamber are still fighting to limit the amount of one-dollars spent on recurring expenses and political players of all stripes...