BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Republican Senate President John Alario has selected Democrats to lead the Senate committees dealing with taxes and the budget, choices that could be helpful to Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ financial agenda in the majority GOP chamber.
Sen. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, will chair the Finance Committee, which helps craft the state’s annual budget and will grapple with closing deep shortfalls.
Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, was chosen to head the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee, which handles tax legislation and develops the state construction budget.
The appointments, announced Wednesday, are among the most powerful in the Legislature and will be front and center for a mid-February special session on state finances.
In the Senate, the GOP holds 25 seats, while Democrats have the remaining 14. But the chamber has a tradition of bipartisanship in its leadership positions.
Selection of Democrats for the two money committees will likely be helpful to the governor, who is expected to seek tax hikes as part of his special session agenda. Democrats hold a majority of the seats on the tax committee, which is expected to make it easier to advance tax legislation.
Alario announced his full list of committee assignments Wednesday, with a mix of Democrats and Republicans across leadership jobs. The list is available online at: https://bit.ly/1PY8QYq .
The House hasn’t named its committee chairmen yet, though newly-elected House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, also has talked of bipartisanship in his leadership selections.
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