It appears that the Louisiana Legislature has called itself into special session to address several items of vital importance to the State of Louisiana.
The session will address the near-bankruptcy of the state unemployment trust fund, work on Hurricane Laura recovery and try to scale back the governor’s emergency powers in the latest battle over Gov. John Bel Edwards’ coronavirus response.
Scaling back Governor Edward's coronavirus edicts is a simple process. Under current Louisiana law, it takes a simple majority of either house to end a declared emergency. Petitions have been pending for months to do that very thing, but the legislature could not garner a simple majority of either house to end the emergency.
It is time to end the coronavirus emergency. We have to learn to live with this thing. And, over the past six months, most Louisianans have adjusted their habits to be more corona-conscious. The damage wreaked on the economy by government edicts has a real and devastating impact on jobs and businesses. The governments job at this point should be education, not mandates.
The fact that the Legislature called itself into session is encouraging. By calling the session themselves, they took Governor Edwards out of the equation. They are setting the agenda themselves. I hope that they are strong enough to take care of the legislative business and end the government over-reach.
2 comments:
I wish you, and all the citizens of Louisiana the best results from your legislature's special session. This issue of unlimited powers to declare, and maintain, "emergencies" needs a closer look. It serves a purpose, and is probably a good thing, but it needs to be restricted and defined. As it stands right now, it's a power that has literally no limits. The question that keeps percolating around in my mind is, "Well, if you can define the conditions that necessitate declaring an emergency, shouldn't you be able to use that same criteria to define the conditions that will define when the emergency is over?"
One hopes this works. Y'all are in serious trouble on the unemployment side of the house.
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