The full House and Senate did not meet Thursday but the candidates for governor appeared at a forum to give their ideas on how to address the budget shortfall. Republican Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne says one short term fix for the budget crisis is for legislators to increase the cigarette tax…

cut 13 (10) “find some money”

Democratic Amite state Representative John Bel Edwards says Louisiana should reduce or eliminate tax credits that aren’t producing a the desired benefit. Edwards says tax credits are tax expenditures…

cut 14 (10) “review these things”

Republicans Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle says he would redo the state’s tax code and US Senator David Vitter says he would immediately call a special legislative session to address the budget. The forum was put on by the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.

Governor Bobby Jindal has an op-ed piece in the New York Times that explains his support for the religious liberty bill that will be debated in the Louisiana legislature. U-L Lafayette Political Science Professor Pearson Cross says there are some in Louisiana that will applaud the governor’s stance against gay marriage and for religious liberty, but others would rather see him devote more time to state specific issues…

cut 8 (09) “at home”

Jindal also says in the op-ed column that he continues to have the view that marriage is between one man and one woman.

A bill by Gonzales state Representative Eddie Lambert would make it illegal for vendors, farmers, and harvesters to sell crawfish that are smaller than three and a half inches for people to eat. Lambert says he’s heard complaints about small crawfish from both wholesalers and consumers…

cut 26 (10) “you can’t tell”

He says crawfish is a multi-million dollar industry that basically has no standards.