The 2015 Legislative Session is in the books and an agreement was reached on next year’s $24 billion dollar budget that would prevent deep cuts to higher education and health care. One of the ways the House and Senate came together to balance the budget was to agree to a 50 cent increase on the state’s cigarette tax. Tax breaks were also minimized as were business subsidies.

The key piece of the legislation that was needed to prevent a veto of revenue generating bills made it through…:
CUT 3 (30) “I’m Jeff Palermo”

The US House votes to repeal a law requiring country of origin labels on beef, pork, and poultry. Richland Parish Congressman Ralph Abraham says it’s projected that Louisiana could face $1.3 billion dollars in new tariffs on exports if Congress doesn’t pass the legislation, and he says lawmakers in Washington are left with very few choices…
CUT 2 (12) Q: ‘from the tariffs”
The measure now heads to the US Senate.

The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness has damage assessment teams in northwest Louisiana, gathering information on the amount of damage from the Red River flooding. GOHSEP deputy director Mark Riley says the data is needed in a request for a federal disaster declaration. More than 300 homes were affected in the Shreveport area.