Gas Tax Increase Fails in Louisiana

The Hayride is reporting that the effort to increase the gas tax in the state of Louisiana has failed in the State’s House of Representatives:

We heard this morning from several people in the know that at last night’s meeting of the Louisiana House Republican Delegation, Rep. Steve Carter admitted to the members that HB 632, the gas tax increase bill he’s been trying to drag across the finish line for this entire legislative session, simply does not have the 70 votes required for passage on the House floor.

And shortly thereafter, the Louisiana Association of General Contractors, which had been attempting to rally support for Carter’s gas tax bill, threw in the towel on the gas tax. That association’s CEO Ken Naquin said as much in an e-mail to AGC’s membership…

From: Ken Naquin
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2017 10:27 AM
To: LAGC
Subject: Fuel Tax Bill Dead for Session

To: LAGC Highway Division Members

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Yes, the tag line is correct. Rep. Steve Carter will address the House floor today and hang HB 632 up, on the calendar. As of late last night, after an exhaustive full floor lobby, we can only garner 60 yes votes, leaving us 10 short and no one moving.

The failure of the gas tax increase in Louisiana is in marked contrast to the passage of the unpopular measure here in Tennessee, where Gov. Haslam championed it and State Rep. Barry “Boss” Doss broke the rules of the State House of Representatives to push the 6 cents per gallon gas tax increase and 10 cents per gallon diesel tax increase through the lower chamber of the Tennessee General Assembly.

Gas tax proponents attempted similar shenanigans in Louisiana.

On Thursday, State Rep. Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport) “took to the microphone to give the House a piece of his mind about the efficacy of a tax increase bill widely disparaged by the public – and particularly the public in his district, to whom he was listening – and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the suggested recipients of the tax increase,” the Hayride reported:

Seabaugh noted that perhaps DOTD could unload some of its surplus workforce, as in, 3000 of the agency’s 4700 employees, and apply the savings to road construction and maintenance since that work is done by contractors anyway. No punches were pulled and few in the room were spared in the making of this, which is so far the unquestioned high point of the entire session