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Hurricane Katrina

La. lawmakers try to patch up budget and state

BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana lawmakers have only about two weeks to chart their hurricane-ravaged state's future, from rewriting building codes to weighing tax breaks to changing how employment benefits are calculated, and then answering the big question: how to pay for all the repairs.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the special session starting today for the Legislature to address 77 hurricane-related issues. It has to end by Nov. 22, two days before Thanksgiving.

"Frankly, I think it's too much to do in 16 days, but we'll do our best," Democratic Sen. Butch Gautreaux said.

Looming over the session is the already $971-million hole in the state's $18.7-billion budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year that runs through June 30.

One of the tasks awaiting lawmakers is figuring out how to calculate property taxes for homeowners whose properties were damaged or washed away by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita.

Property tax bills are normally mailed at the end of the year, but some lawmakers want to postpone the deadline for taxes on those homes.

Doing that, though, would mean delaying money that schools, cities and other local governments use to provide services such as garbage collection, transportation and education.

"This is not a very easy issue," said Republican Sen. Tom Schedler. "None of it is going to be pretty, and there is no right or wrong answer."

"You're damned if you do, damned if you don't," he said.

Other topics Blanco is asking lawmakers to address during the special session include: reorganizing the levee districts, changing state building codes, changing how unemployment benefits are calculated, and requiring all insurers that offer property insurance anywhere in Louisiana to offer it statewide.

To help businesses, she has asked lawmakers to consider setting sales tax exemptions for businesses replacing damaged machinery, and creating corporate franchise tax exemptions for new debt incurred in disaster areas.

Blanco also is asking lawmakers to cut the 2005-06 budget, tap the state's "rainy day" fund, borrow money and move surplus funds from the last fiscal year into a new fund to help the state cover its costs and repair damaged infrastructure.

Last week, the state got another shock from FEMA, which estimated Louisiana's share of the federal hurricane recovery effort at $3.7-billion. A spokeswoman for the governor said it was far more than Blanco had anticipated and the state would look into possible loan arrangements.

The governor plans another special session in January; the regular legislative session doesn't begin until March.

Gautreaux said tax relief for homeowners was more important than concerns about government right now, particularly in badly damaged parishes such as St. Bernard, where governments have few jobs, anyway.

"In St. Bernard, there's no functioning parish at this time," he said. "Nobody's going to be employed by the parish for a while."

[Last modified November 6, 2005, 02:15:12]