Governor Edwards celebrated the end of the first legislative season of his tenure to not feature special sessions and says the passage of most of his legislative agenda points the state in the right direction.
Edwards says the over 300-million-dollar surplus the state ran last year made for smoother sailing when crafting a budget, as opposed to previous years’ fiscal chaos…
“That stability, the growth in revenue because the economy is performing so well is what allowed us to go in a have such a successful session.”
Opponents say the surplus is evidence that the Legislature did not need to pass a .45 percent sales tax renewal last year.
The Governor took a victory lap on his flagship proposal to secure a 1,000 dollar teacher pay raise and 39 million in new K-12 spending. Opponents fought the 39 million, preferring to invest more in early childhood education, but Edwards says in the end they got the best of both worlds…
“Right at 20 million dollars more state effort this year compared to last on early childhood education. That’s excellent.”
Higher ed also received 47.2 million more dollars in this year’s budget than last year’s.
But it wasn’t all wins. Despite making it a campaign pledge in 2015, Edwards failed for the fourth year in a row to win a minimum wage increase, and Louisiana remains one of the few states at the 7.25 an hour federal minimum…
“Seven dollars and a quarter is an inadequate wage for an hours’ worth of work, period. I would like to see Congress address it, but I don’t think they will, so we’re going to come back and keep fighting for it.”
Edwards backed a proposal to raise the minimum to nine dollars an hour.
