Landry encourages support for state amendments on March 29
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
COVINGTON – The first full year of Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration brought about what he called, “reversing decades of setbacks and putting Louisiana on the verge of prosperity.”
Landry was the guest speaker at a special meeting of the St. Tammany Chamber PAC, where he was greeted by a packed house of parish business leaders, who heard the new governor sound very similar to the comments coming out of the White House since Donald Trump was re-elected president of the United States.
Landry was elected in 2023 with 52 percent of the vote against what began as a crowded field of candidates. His closest competitor only drew 26 percent of the vote, giving Landry the kind of mandate that Trump received in his 2024 presidential victory.
Listening to Landry in front of the Chamber PAC audience sounded much like Trump, with his intent to bring a “common sense government” back to the U.S.
However, Landry faced a big challenge of his own with the state facing years of declining population as residents and businesses went to other states with more inviting tax laws.
That all began to change for Louisiana in 2024 when Landry made it clear how serious he was about changing the face of the state, not only for residents, but also to attract business.
In his first year at the helm of the state, Landry called three special sessions of the Louisiana Legislature to go with the regular session, and at the end of it all, state lawmakers had passed a host of bills that have drastically changed the way the country and businesses are looking at our state.
Before the year began, Louisiana ranked 42nd in the country in terms of the most favorable overall tax laws. After all the bills were passed, the state ranked 25th.
However, voters going to the polls on March 29 must ratify those new laws when they face four constitutional amendments that need the approval of the public. Most important among them is Amendment 2 which has these important issues:
–Decrease the maximum income tax for residents to 3.75 percent.
–Adding a new tax deduction for citizens of 65 and older.
–Putting a limit on government spending.
–Eliminating several state savings accounts to fund a permanent teacher increase.
–Reduce the state retirement debt.
–Provide changes to business inventory taxes.
“Change is happening in Louisiana,” Landry said with his trademark Cajun accent. “We put together the largest tax cut in the history of the state. We dedicated ourselves to fix the dysfunction. It will all bring new business to Louisiana.”
The changes already paid off in a big way late in 2024 when Meta, the international company that operates Facebook, selected north Louisiana as the site to build the largest data center in the world, investing $13 billion in the state to do so. The operation is so huge and needs so much electricity to operate that three new power plants will be constructed in the area.
“At the end of the day, people want the country fixed,” Landry said. “President Trump’s agenda is to put America first, and that’s what we are also doing in Louisiana.”
Landry, who was elected governor one year before Trump was elected, hinted that Louisiana was ahead of the Trump plans that have brought in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“We were doing DOGE before DOGE was cool,” he said with a laugh. “And since we are from Louisiana, it should be pronounced ‘DO-J.’”
Landry, who was the Louisiana attorney general before running for governor, said that when he was A.G. his agency was already digging into the budget to find waste.
“We found $2 million in savings from a $50 million budget we had,” he said. “One agency in the state had $1 million of cell phones that weren’t being used.”
Landry said the Legislature also addressed crime, particularly in New Orleans, where he sent troops to operate.
Then he pointed to Amendment 3 on the March 29 ballot as one other item that was important to pass since it would allow the Legislature to decide what juvenile crimes should be tried as adults.
“We have a juvenile crime problem in the state, but we now want to force these juveniles to serve a minimum of 75 percent of their sentence instead of getting out so early,” he added. “That item must get voter approval.”
One other area the governor covered was education, where he said the state needs to quit forcing kids to take the ACT.
“A lot of kids have no interest in college, but they take the ACT, do badly, and then it makes the state scores look bad,” he remarked. “We need to quit forcing kids to take the ACT if they have no plans for college.”
The Legislature also made two education changes by passing a law to take cell phones out of schools and allow the 10 Commandments to be posted in classrooms.
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