Memorial Day may be a day off for most Americans, but not for Louisiana lawmakers.
They'll be back at the state capitol trying to finish their work for the session ahead of next week's deadline.
"Lawmakers try not to work on Friday, and they try not to work on holidays," LA Politics editor Jeremy Alford said.
According to Alford, the fact that the state legislature will meet on Memorial Day is a sign that they have some heavy lifting left to do before final adjournment next Monday.
"The budget bills are pending, and the redistricting bills are pending, and they're both pending at the same time," Alford said.
The session must end by 6 p.m. next Monday, but lawmakers are still trying to figure out what to cut from the state's spending package. Alford says two events prevented the legislature from finalizing the budget sooner: the Supreme Court decision that led the legislature to turn its focus to congressional redistricting and the State Revenue Estimating Committee's worse-than-expected forecast.
"The Revenue Estimating Conference met the same week that the Supreme Court ruled on the maps, and they found that the state had less money to work with in the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year, and so lawmakers were faced with building a budget with less money suddenly at the end of session," Alford said. "As it usually works out, education is kind of in the sights right now."
A pet project of Governor Jeff Landry may be in the legislature's crosshairs.
"There's a big question about whether to fund the governor's LA GATOR program," Alford said.
Landry wanted lawmakers to double that program's funding, but pushback from Senate President Cameron Henry and the lower-than-expected state revenue estimate have lawmakers looking at cutting the voucher program's funding.
Alford says teacher pay may be another casualty of budget cuts, especially after voters rejected a constitutional amendment that state leaders said would pay for those raises.
"The voters refused to support a pay raise for teachers, and now, lawmakers are feeling a little less motivated to fill that gap since voters said 'no,'' Alford said.
According to Alford, the full House likely will not vote on the proposed congressional redistricting plan during Monday's session. That item is not on the House's daily agenda, but Alford notes that House members could call for a special order to consider the bill.
