Monday Morning

I see in the Town Talk that the Legislature has convened.

Lots of stuff to talk about, lots of stuff to deliberate. This is an odd-numbered year, so this session of depravity is supposed to focus on budget and financial issues. We voted on that a while back, but legislators have no will power. They can't help themselves. They have to do what they think best.

Every-other-year fiscal sessions were created so lawmakers could take an in-depth look at revenue and expenditure matters without the disruption of the myriad issues that are introduced in regular sessions. But because most lawmakers are not on the committees that handle tax-and-spend issues, revisions have been made to allow an unlimited number of local bills, and each of the 144 lawmakers can introduce five bills of a general nature.

See what I mean? We voted to limit them, then they go ahead and ignore it.

When the House and Senate convene at noon today for the 60-day session, they likely will face more general issue bills as they will fiscal ones. The number of bills pre-filed -- 897 in the House and 322 in the Senate -- is well below the number filed in 90-day sessions, but many of the issues ould be hot.

It's depressing, isn't it?

But, the biggest fight is going to be over the money. Surprisingly, Louisiana has a surplus, so we should be happy to get our money back, right?

On one side are Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Democrats who support her budget proposals to meet many of the state's serious needs, especially education and highways, and on the other are Republicans and conservative Democrats who want to give money back to the people and businesses that paid it to the state.

Y'all grab your pocketbook. It's gonna be a wild ride.