The state House voted on Tuesday to call a special convention to rewrite Louisiana’s constitution but only after Gov. Jeff Landry and House leaders agreed in a major concession to delay the convention’s start until Aug. 1.
Landry and House leaders had wanted to begin the constitutional convention on May 20. But the Aug. 1 start date still appears to give convention delegates enough time to meet over the next two or three weeks and then approve a new constitution that would be put before voters statewide on Nov. 5.
Rep. Beau Beaullieu, the sponsor of the legislation to call the convention, House Bill 800, told his colleagues that the later start date aims at concerns that the effort to get a new constitution is moving too quickly to be vetted properly.
The vote was 75-27, mostly along partisan lines, five more than were needed. Only one Republican voted no, while four Democrats voted yes.
“It’s one step,” Landry said immediately after the vote, which he had just watched from the side of the House chamber. “I want this Legislature and the people that work in this Capitol to be free, to give them the tools necessary to finally get this state off the bottom and on the top.”
Passage of HB 800 now shifts attention to the state Senate, where support is not assured in a chamber that has shown greater independence from Landry than the House.
But Tuesday’s change could win over senators who have been saying in recent days that they wanted the convention to begin in August, not during the final two weeks of the regular legislative session, as Landry and Beaullieu had sought.
In the coming days, Landry will likely have to address complaints from senators that they can’t vote to hold a convention without knowing what he wants to keep in the new constitution.
Landry began to address those concerns last week when he agreed to amendments approved by the House that would instruct convention delegates to keep two popular items in the constitution: the $75,000 homestead exemption and the K-12 school funding formula known as the MFP.
But Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said that action could “open the floodgates” to other amendments to protect additional items in the constitution to win the votes of other lawmakers.
His prediction came true on Tuesday. Before approving HB 800, House members approved amendments that instruct delegates to not touch pensions for retired state workers and school employees and supplemental pay for local law enforcement officials.
Several critics of HB 800 warned their colleagues that the bill cannot protect any specific items in the constitution during the convention, despite the amendments.
Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, likened the protective language in HB 800 to “a pinkie swear,” meaning that it’s nothing more than a promise.
“Once you hold a constitutional convention, everything is on the table,” said Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Brusly.
But Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, took issue with that view, saying that when the delegates convene, they can begin by agreeing to protect the items spelled out in HB 800.
Jordan also pointed to a Times-Picayune | The Advocate poll published Sunday which showed that only 1% of voters identified getting a new constitution as the state’s top priority. Jordan also noted that the poll also gave Landry middling marks on how he has handled the writing of a new constitution, with 27% approving and 29% disapproving.
In presenting his bill, Beaullieu repeated his and Landry’s refrain in recent days that voters have amended the current constitution so many times since it was adopted in 1974 that it is unwieldy and locks up too many government programs from being cut.
Beaullieu said the goal is to take certain unidentified items out of the constitution to give lawmakers more flexibility in spending and tax decisions, including next year when they face a projected $550 million budget deficit.
Landry has said he wants to begin to phase out the state income tax next year, although he hasn’t said how he would make up the huge revenue loss.
Rep. Wilford Carter, D-Lake Charles, said he believes that Landry has already written a new constitution with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a libertarian-minded group, and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.
“Who’s plan is it?” Carter asked. “It’s not the people’s plan.”
Beaullieu said no draft constitution exists.
HB 800 calls for 171 delegates: all 144 House and Senate members and 27 mostly conservative people appointed by the governor. Each of the three groups would have to approve any individual changes to the constitution for those changes to become part of the final constitution to be put before voters.
Rep. Mark Wright, R-Covington, called on his colleagues to show courage in holding the convention.
“I think this is the most important thing we can do in my legislative career,” said Wright, who was elected in 2017.
Landry has been making a hard push to win the House support in recent days, legislators said, calling them to his office in small groups to try to convince them to support it. He sat on the side of the House chamber during much of the debate on Tuesday.
House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, spoke last before the vote, telling a quieted chamber that changing the constitution will help keep children and others from leaving Louisiana.
DeVillier said that when he ends his legislative career, “I’m going to go back home and tell them I did everything that I could to make sure that my children have an opportunity here.”
The Republican who voted against HB 800 was Rep. Joe Stagni of Kenner. The Democrats who voted for it were: Reps. Robby Carter of Greensburg, Dustin Miller of Opelousas, Roy Daryl Adams of Jackson and Chad Brown of Plaquemine.