This week lawmakers will begin public hearings on how to deal with the state’s $1.6 billion budget deficit. The House Ways and Means Committee will begin hearing tax bills tomorrow. One proposed tax to generate more revenue would raise the cigarette tax in Louisiana to the national average. Governor Bobby Jindal says he remains opposed to raising taxes, but recognizes that the state tax code is not written in stone…

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Legislation that would raise more revenue will get their first hearings today in the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee.

Today marks the five year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon spill, which is considered America’s worst environment disaster ever. But LSU department of environmental sciences professor Ed Overton says it’s lucky the oil that discharged from the damaged well was highly degradable and the gulf is well acclimated to degrade oil….

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Louisiana House Transportation Committee Chairwoman, Pierre Part Representative Karen St. Germain, proposes a one cent sales tax that could generate $7 billion dollars over the next decade to help fund roads and bridges. She says there is a $12 billion dollar backlog of construction and capacity projects all over the state. St. Germain says there are many important issues being discussed this session and this should be one of them…

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St. Germain says the state is facing serious problems and current revenue sources will never provide enough funding to keep up with needed highway construction much less address future needs.