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Lawmakers try again on tax revamp Landry, allies seek to simplify overhaul BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
A month ago, voters soundly rejected a complicated proposal by Gov. Jeff Landry to revamp the tax section of Louisiana’s constitution. The defeat has not deterred Landry and his legislative allies from trying to take another bite of the apple, albeit in smaller bites.
The governor and his allies believe that voters rebuffed Amendment 2 on March 29 because it was too complex and tried to make too many different changes. They note that the numerous changes contained in the amendment were spelled out in a 115-page bill. So, after breaking out the popular individual pieces, they are now pushing four specific changes that
were part of Amendment 2, which lost at the polls along with three other amendments. “Voters said they wanted to be able to vote on simpler forms of those elements,” said Richard Nelson, the revenue secretary and intellectual author of Amendment 2. “This is responsive to that.” Those changes would: n Eliminate three education trust
funds, pay off retirement debt and use much of the savings from that move to supplement salaries for teachers and support staff. n Give parish governments the option of ending the property tax on business inventory. n Eliminate the Revenue Stabilization Fund and use the freed-up money to fill up the rainy day fund and cover the cost of phasing out the inventory tax. n Impose a limit on how much the state can increase spending each year on education, health
La. DEQ chief leaves after months of controversy
2025 LEGISLATURE TAXES care, prisons and all other government programs. Each of the various measures, if approved by the Legislature, would go before voters individually in 2026 and take effect only with voter approval. “It’s more easily digestible,” said
ä See REVAMP, page 6A
ELECTION 2025
DA tax, runoffs in St. George on the ballot EBR voters hit polls Saturday
BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT Politics editor
Saturday is an election day in East Baton Rouge Parish, with a new tax for the District Attorney’s Office, tax renewals for the school system, a seat in the state House of Representatives, and runoffs in St. George on the line. District Attorney Hillar Moore is asking voters to approve a new, 4-mill property tax for 20 years. A mill is $1 of tax on every $1,000 of assessed property — the tax would bring in $24 million annually and cost the average household in the parish an extra $5 per month. Moore says the tax would increase his budget from
ä What’s on the ballot.
PAGE 7A
about $16 million to roughly $26 million, which he says is on par with the district attorneys in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. It would allow his office to operate independently of the cityparish and return about $8.7 million annually to the parish general fund. Moore says his office has struggled to manage caseloads and pay adequate salaries to hire and keep prosecutors — there is currently a backlog of about 11,050 cases, he said. But Moore is seeking the funds at a time when many other taxes and propositions have failed at the ballot box. Voters will also choose
ä See ELECTION, page 7A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Then-Gov.-elect Jeff Landry, left, introduces Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto, who he named to head Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality, during a news conference on Nov. 15, 2023, at Russo Park in Lafayette. Giacometto is leaving her post for a job with a Washington, D.C., law firm after months of controversy from staffers upset over her management style.
Veteran staffer to take top job in department BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
water, while also keeping a focus on the jobs and businesses that often suffer from red-tape and The embattled secretary overregulation,” Landry said in of Louisiana’s environmental a statement. “We are grateful agency is leaving for a post with for her actions to improve the a Washington, D.C., law firm af- Department and wish her the ter months of controversy from best in her next endeavor.” Landry’s statement didn’t adstaffers upset over her management style and amid dress Giacometto’s rocky high-profile departures. tenure at DEQ, nor did Aurelia Skipwith GiaGiacometto’s resignation letters to employees and cometto, secretary of the governor. the Louisiana DepartGiacometto, a former ment of Environmental wildlife and fisheries diQuality, has accepted a position with Earth and rector in President DonWater Law Firm, the Burdette ald Trump’s first term, Governor’s Office said came in with Landry’s Friday. initial cabinet, promising to As the next secretary, Gov. streamline DEQ and align it to Jeff Landry named Courtney promote economic development Burdette, a former 10-year DEQ while still protecting the envistaffer who left last year early ronment. in Giacometto’s tenure. But her leadership style “I want to sincerely thank Au- rubbed employees the wrong relia for her dedicated service to way, triggering a state audit of our State and the Department of the agency’s workplace culture. Environmental Quality. Aurelia In public statements respondprioritized environmental im- ing to accusations, Giacometto provements to our air, land, and argued the criticisms were false Staff writer
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and part of the price she was paying from a few disgruntled employees to bring transformational change to the agency. “I was not appointed to take the easy or popular road. I am inspired daily by the dedication of LDEQ’s hard working employees, and I am not going to allow a few to undermine their great work and the success of this agency,” she said in a response to one scathing letter from a former agency human resources lawyer and ethics attorney several weeks ago. According to Politico Pro, Giacometto had been in the running in early December for a new post as a deputy Interior secretary with the Trump administration, but the nomination went to one of her competitors, Kate MacGregor, in January. At the time, the DEQ workplace audit, made public in late February, was still pending. In the weeks before Friday’s announcement, Giacometto
ä See DEQ, page 6A
La. faces surge of whooping cough State identifies 164 cases so far this year
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
Whooping cough cases are surging in Louisiana, a trend that “could result in a record high for 2025 — more than has been seen annually in the state for at least 35 years,” according to a news release Friday from the Louisiana Department of Health. The Health Department said it has identified 164 cases in just the first four months of the year, while there were 153 cases during all of 2024. “Two deaths have occurred among young infants hospitalized with whooping cough,” the Health Department said. “These were the first whooping cough deaths reported in Louisiana since 2018.”
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One of those deaths occurred in the latter half of 2024, and one occurred in the first two months of 2025, a spokesperson for the Health Department said. Louisiana’s increase in cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, mirrors national trends, according to the Health Department. The spread of the illness is also leading to an increase in reported hospitalizations and deaths. “Since September 2024, 40 people in Louisiana have been hospitalized with whooping cough,” the Health Department said. “Seventy percent of those hospitalizations have occurred among babies younger than 1 year old.” Whooping cough is a respiratory illness that’s very contagious. It’s caused by bacteria that spreads from person to person in the air through coughing, sneezing and close contact.
ä See SURGE, page 7A
100TH yEAR, NO. 307