Louisiana has the highest level of stress in the nation according to research from the personal finance website WalletHub. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 1 (28) “I’m Kevin Barnhart”
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A Baton Rouge Representative wants to raise the gas tax by 18 cents over the next 12 years to pay for billions in Louisiana infrastructure projects. Matt Doyle has the story.
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The personal finance website WalletHub finds Louisiana is the most stressed out state in the nation. Bordering states Mississippi took second place and Arkansas placed third. WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzales says 40 different metrics were used to calculate the rankings.
Cut 3 (11) “…those different things.”
Louisiana ranks fifth for percent of adults with fair or poor health and sixth for getting adequate sleep. She says the state also comes in second for divorce rate….
Cut 4 (11) “…cyclical aspects here.”
Gonzales says the lack of money can lead to stress and Louisiana ranks high in a couple of categories…
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Baton Rouge Representative Steve Carter has a bill that would eventually pump billions of dollars into the state’s crumbling infrastructure by raising the gas tax by 18 cents a gallon over the next 12 years. Carter says his bill would make sure that every cent raised would go towards fixing bridges, building roads, and other vital needs.
The current gas tax is 20 cents a gallon, and if passed the legislation would raise that by six cents in the first year.
In one week, lawmakers are set to descend on a Baton Rouge that has found itself shutdown over the last week by traffic gridlock. Carter says he understands his colleague’s hesitation about new taxes, but the traffic nightmare in the capital should be a persuasive argument.
The legislation mandates that certain projects, including a new Baton Rouge Mississippi River Bridge, and a new I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge, are built using the money.
A past effort by Carter to pass a similar tax failed to even make it to the floor, but the Capital City Republican says he’s heard from lawmakers since then who have changed their mind.
The legislation would also redirect the .45 percent sales tax, passed last year and set to expire in 2025, into the infrastructure fund.
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State Attorney General Jeff Landry is touting legislation filed for the upcoming session that would guarantee healthcare coverage for pre-existing conditions and other patient projections, if the Affordable Care Act is ruled unconstitutional. Landry says its called “Health Care Coverage for Louisiana Families Protection Act…
Cut 9 (12) “…pre-existing conditions”
Landry’s office supports a lawsuit that seeks to declare Obamacare as unconstitutional. Back in December, a federal judge ruled in favor of that suit and the ruling is currently under appeal. The A-G has been outspoken critic of the A-C-A, says this bill is just one part of the solution…
Governor Edwards says its ironic Landry is taking credit for fixing a problem he helped create by supporting litigation that endangers health care coverage for almost 850-thousand Louisiana residents. But Landry says the lawsuit gives Louisiana an opportunity to create a better health care system…
Cut 11 (09) “fellow citizens.”
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The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services releases a report that finds the number of reported juvenile trafficking victims rose by 20-percent in 2018. Child welfare manager Christy Tate says they don’t think the crime of human trafficking is getting worse, but there’s greater awareness about the problem…
Overall in 2018, there were 744 confirmed victims of trafficking, 58-percent were juveniles and as young as five months old. She says the oldest victim of human trafficking was 65-years-old…
The report also found that Orleans, Caddo and East Baton Rouge were the parishes most frequently identified as the trafficking locations for both adult and juvenile victims. She says that’s not a big surprise…