federal shutdown

January 23, 2018

A new approach to work requirements?

Gov. John Bel Edwards has yet to lay out his vision for how to connect Medicaid recipients with jobs; those details are being worked on by an outside consultant. But in a letter to The Advocate, Louisiana Health Secretary Rebekah Gee suggests it won’t be the punitive approach favored by state Sen. Sharon Hewitt and other legislators.

Number of the Day

$5.8 billion- Amount of money in tips that workers would lose under a proposed U.S. Department of Labor rule that would allow restaurants to pocket their workers’ tips as long as they pay at least a minimum wage. (Source: Economic Policy Institute)
January 22, 2018

What’s the price of tax reform?

For almost two years now, one key question has overhung the debate over Louisiana’s structural budget shortfall: What will it take for House Republicans to support a package of permanent, sustainable revenue measures to replace the temporary, 1-cent sales tax enacted in 2016?

Number of the Day

70,953 - Total state employees at the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year, down from 100,486 in FY2009 (Source: Popular Annual Financial Report/Division of Administration)
October 4, 2013

Friday, Oct. 4, 2013

Economist: America close to “ungovernable”; Federal aid for pregnant women and children funded through October; 800 Louisiana youth qualify for autism treatment through Medicaid; Teachers begin receiving merit pay based on evaluation scores; Herman Wallace dies a free man 2,000 –The number of federal workers and National Guard troops in Louisiana who are unable to work due to the federal shutdown. (Source: Nola.com)