Now that Louisiana voters have rejected a constitutional amendment that would have rewritten the tax-and-spending portion of the Louisiana Constitution, what's next for Governor Jeff Landry and the state lawmakers who supported Amendment 2?
According to one political analyst, they'll try to present the reforms to voters again.
"I think the defeat of (Amendment 2) is going to mean that this is front and center for the legislature," University of Louisiana at Monroe political science professor Pearson Cross said. "They're going to try to take a number of other swings at this apple. I imagine they'll do what they can with legislation."
Cross told WWL's Tommy Tucker that instead of trying to put a wholesale rewrite of Article VII on the ballot, lawmakers will try a different approach in hopes of convincing voters to approve their reform plan.
"Maybe they'll find a way to spin off some of these discrete parts that they think are particularly important, like the income tax part, for example, or the education trust fund part, into separate constitutional amendments that voters can digest more easily," Cross said.
Cross says Saturday's vote was a stinging rebuke of Governor Landry and legislative Republicans and their desire to rush through changes to the state's tax code. In fact, Cross believes Saturday's vote may have hurt Landry politically.
"Landry lost some capital on this one," Cross said. "You can't construe this than any other way than kind of a slap in the face and a caution to him to not get ahead of the voters."
The 2025 Louisiana Legislative Session begins on Monday.
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