Today is the final day of 2018, so let’s look at the biggest stories in Louisiana. The first half of the year was all budget talk as the state began January facing another massive budget shortfall. It took three special sessions, but Governor John Bel Edwards was pleased with the final budget deal.
“Nobody got everything they were looking for, but everybody got something,” said Edwards. “That’s what a compromise is.”
The sales tax plan approved in June fully funded the TOPS scholarship program, public colleges, and health care. But many Republicans were not happy about a state sales tax rate of 4.45 percent. Slidell Senator Sharon Hewitt says it’s needed to pay for a bloated Medicaid expansion program.
“The governor’s decision to expand Medicaid without any consideration for the coast of doing so has grown the cost of health care in Louisiana at the expense of important priorities,” said Hewitt.
There was one piece of legislation lawmakers and the public overwhelmingly supported and that was a constitutional amendment that said in order to convict a person of a serious felony crime, the jury’s verdict had to be unanimous. New Orleans Senator JP Morrell argued the standard of needing only 10 of 12 jurors to secure a conviction is not what our founders envisioned.
In 2018, the state also lost its title as incarceration capital of the world as a result of criminal justice reform efforts approved in 2017.
In May, Secretary of State Tom Schedler resigned amid sexual harassment allegations. His former secretary, Dawn Ross, spoke with LRN, and said she was the victim of sexually suggestive charged emails, gifts and advances since 2007. Ross says Schedler also stalked her and bought a town home in her complex.
“I had two chairs in my yard and a neighbor saw him sitting in my yard at 11 o’ clock at night in his pajamas and told him that he can see the stars better back there,” said Ross.
Louisiana lost a couple of legendary figures in 2018. LSU’s only Heisman trophy winner Billy Cannon passed away in May at the age of 80. And Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson died in March. He was 90. Benson’s wife, Gayle, has taken over the two professional sports franchises and plans to keep the teams in New Orleans.
