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Louisiana Legislature Kicks Off 30-Day Special Session

Paul Braun
/
WRKF
Senate President Page Cortez addresses the media June 30, 2020.

The Louisiana Legislature met briefly Monday to officially kick off the second special session of the year.

But as Paul Braun reports, the real work starts today. 

The state's Revenue Estimating Conference meets this afternoon to discuss the state’s dwindling unemployment trust fund. As of Friday, the fund balance hovered around $43 million — well below the threshold that would trigger lower weekly unemployment payments and higher payroll taxes for Louisiana businesses starting next year

To prevent that from happening, the four-person panel delayed a vote on Friday that would have made those changes official, giving themselves more time to come up with possible alternatives.

We’ll get a clearer picture of what that might look like when the REC meets at 4 p.m. today.

A Senate Judiciary committee will also consider the first of several bills aimed at curbing Gov. John Bel Edwards’ power in times of emergency. This measure, which was authored by Senate President Page Cortez, would create a legislative review committee that could cut short any declared disaster that lasts longer than 30 days.

Paul Braun was WRKF's Capitol Access reporter, from 2019 through 2023.