BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Latest on Louisiana’s special session (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
Lawmakers in the Louisiana House have ended days of inaction on the budget.
The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday advanced a package of bills to chart spending on state government operations in the financial year that begins July 1.
The panel zipped through the measures quickly, sending them to the full House for debate with no objection.
The House is expected to consider them Thursday.
Lawmakers had raised concerns that the special session had entered its second and final week without action on a budget and no bills submitted by Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry.
Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed a previous $28.5 billion budget.
Amid pressure, Henry introduced budget proposals Tuesday that accounted for the money already available - and nearly $400 million in taxes backed by the House.
The session must end June 4.
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4:15 p.m.
Several protesters were removed from a Louisiana House budget committee after shouting at lawmakers and refusing to leave the room.
They were representing the Poor People’s Campaign, a group of anti-poverty activists that has organized around the country. The campaign is modeled after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, aimed at calling attention to people struggling with deep poverty.
About two dozen people have staged several weekly protests and acts of civil disobedience in and around the Louisiana Capitol, similar to protests around the country. On Tuesday, they presented a petition to the House Appropriations Committee advocating for a “moral budget.”
One protester was carried out of the room by House security personnel.
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Noon
Within minutes of reaching a long-sought tax compromise, Louisiana House lawmakers dove into another partisan debate that threatens to force them into a third special session this year.
They disagree over how to craft a budget for the year that starts July 1, after Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed an earlier $28.5 billion version.
Only days remain to get a budget to Edwards in the special session, which must end June 4. A spending plan hasn’t started advancing in the House, where budget measures must start.
House Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry, a Republican, argues Edwards’ veto, along with constitutional restrictions, force a slower process.
Democrats suggest Henry is dragging his feet in retaliation for the veto.
The steps Henry says are necessary haven’t always been used in prior sessions.
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