HOUSE NOTES

Louisiana House of Representatives

Communications Office
2016 First Extraordinary Session
Wrap-up, Mar. 9, 2016

Updated: March 10, 2016, noon

At final adjournment on Wednesday,

March 9, the twenty-second day of the 2016
First Extraordinary Legislative Session, a total
of 206 bills were introduced in both houses;
67 have been passed and adopted. Thirty-four
resolutions have been sent to the Secretary of
State.
The governor has signed HB7, SB1
and SB4 and 21 bills are pending executive
approval.
A brief description of some of the bills
that generated public interest follows.
ALCOHOL TAX
*
House Bill 27, which is headed to the
governor's desk, increases the excise tax on
liquor, wine and beer.
*
House Bill 28, which awaits the
governor's signature, reduces the discount
rates for accurately reporting and remitting
excise taxes on alcoholic beverages and beer
by 25 percent from 3a percent to 2 percent
for high alcohol content (wine and liquor) and
from 2 percent to 1 percent for low alcohol
content (beer and malt liquor). Local discounts
remain unchanged.
APPROPRIATIONS
*
House Bill 118, which has completed
the legislative process, reduces appropriations
for the Louisiana Judiciary for Fiscal Year
2015-16 by $3,991,120.

*
House Bill 119, which passed both
houses, reduces the state General Fund
appropriation for the Louisiana Legislature for
Fiscal Year 2015-16 by $1,589,207 and
directs the Legislative Budgetary Control
Council to reduce the Fees and Self-Generated
Revenue appropriations for the Louisiana
Legislature for Fiscal Year 2015-16 in the
amount of $444,036.
*
House Bill 122, which has completed
the legislative process, makes supplemental
appropriations and reductions to
appropriations for Fiscal Year 2015-16.
BUDGET AND TAX POLICY
*
House Concurrent Resolution 11,
which has completed the legislative process,
creates the Task Force on Structural Changes
in Budget and Tax Policy to study the state's
tax policies and the structure of the state
budget and make recommendations for fair tax
policies, long-term budgeting improvements
and more efficient and effective state
operations.
CIGARETTE/TOBACCO
*
House Bill 14, which has been sent to
the governor, raises the cigarette tax from 86
cents to $1.08 per 20-pack, effective April 1.
Inventories of stamps and stamped products
are not subject to the tax increase. Taxes on
all other tobacco products are unchanged.

*
House Bill 18, which has been sent to
the governor, reduces the amount of the
discount for accurately reporting and remitting
excise taxes on certain tobacco products and
the discount for stamping cigarettes by 1
percent.
CONTRACTS
*
House Concurrent Resolution 2, which
has completed the legislative process, directs
the commissioner of administration and other
statewide elected officials to review state
contracts to identify any that can be
terminated and report their initial findings to
the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget
by March 17, 2016.
CORPORATE FRANCHISE TAX
*
House Bill 19, which is headed to the
governor's desk, expands the definition of
"domestic corporation" for purposes of the
corporate franchise tax and excludes small
businesses electing to be treated as
S-corporations from corporate franchise tax
liability.
CORPORATE INCOME TAX
*
House Bill 20, which has been sent to
the governor, limits the net operating loss
deduction that a corporation may claim to 72
percent of Louisiana net income and repeals
the three-year sunset of the reduction in
present law making the 28% reduction
permanent.
*
House Bill 29, which has been sent to
the governor's desk, establishes a flat 6.5
percent rate for calculating corporation
income tax liability instead of using the
current five-tiered rate and bracket structure.
*
House Bill 31, a proposed
constitutional amendment, which has
completed the legislative process, eliminates
the income tax deduction for federal income

taxes when calculating corporate income tax

liability.
Federal income taxes paid shall be
allowed as a deductible item in computing
state individual income taxes.
*
House Bill 95, which has completed
the legislative process, repeals the state
income tax deduction for federal income taxes
paid by corporations and entities taxed as
corporations.
The bill would apply only to corporate
filers.
ENTERPRISE ZONE
*
House Bill 71, which has been sent to
the governor, reduces the amount of certain
Enterprise Zone tax credits, removes certain
hotels from eligibility, allows an increase in
the job credit from $2,500 to $3,500 per net
new job for those employees on SNAP, WIC
or Medicaid, unemployable by traditional
standards or lacking basic skills, and caps the
sales tax rebate/investment tax credit at
$100,000 per net new job.
EXCISE TAX
*
House Bill 39, which is headed to the
governor's desk, levies a state tax of 2.5
percent and a local tax of .5 percent of the
gross proceeds on the rental of automobiles.
FUNDS
House Bill 111, which has been sent to
the governor, eliminates the Debt Recovery
Fund and requires that the collected monies be
transferred to the state agency which referred
the delinquent debt within 30 days. HB111
additionally provides that any monies
collected for delinquent debt as a result of
nonpayment of tax liabilities, after deposit
into the state general fund, the first $5 million
shall be appropriated by the legislature
beginning in Fiscal Year 2013-14, and for four

Page -2-

consecutive fiscal years thereafter, to the

Office of State Police.
CORPORATE INCOME TAX
*
House Bill 116, which is headed to the
governor's desk, provides relative to loss years
for purposes of the net operating loss
deduction for corporate income tax.
INVENTORY TAXES
*
Senate Concurrent Resolution 6, which
has completed the legislative process,
establishes a task force to study ad valorem
taxes that are offset by state tax credits.
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AWARENESS
*
House Concurrent Resolution 12
recognizes March 7-13 as Multiple Sclerosis
Awareness Week.
SALES AND USE TAXES/EXEMPTIONS
*
House Bill 43, which has completed
the legislative process, caps the annual vendor
compensation for the collection and
remittance of state sales and use taxes at
$1,500 per month per dealer with one or more
business locations in the state.
*
House Bill 55, which is headed to the
governor's desk, requires certain deductible
items be added-back on certain corporate
income tax returns.
*
House Bill 59, which is headed to the
governor for executive approval, defines
"dealer" and "hotel"for purposes of imposing
the state sales and use tax and generally
dedicates the sales and use tax revenue to the
local area in which the tax was generated.
*
House Bill 61, which has completed
the legislative process, provides with respect
to the applicability of certain exclusions and
exemptions from state sales and use taxes.
*
House Bill 62, which has completed
the legislative process, levies an additional 1

percent state sales and use tax.

*
House Bill 72, which has been sent to
the governor, increases the state sales tax on
telecommunications services.
TAX CREDITS
*
House Bill 22, which is headed to the
governor for executive approval, repeals the
three year sunset of certain reductions to tax
rebates and makes Act 126 of the 2015
Regular Session permanent.
*
House Bill 24, which is headed to the
governor for executive approval, repeals the
three-year sunset on the 28 percent reductions
to tax credits in Act No. 125 of the 2015
Regular Session making the 28 percent
reductions permanent.
*
House Bill 87, which has been sent to
the governor, increases the annual license tax
for health maintenance organizations with
more than 55,000 individuals enrolled in
coverage as of Dec. 31, 2015 to $600 per
$10K in gross annual premiums collected.
Additionally, HB87 provides that the
increase in annual license tax for those health
maintenance organizations shall become
effective upon the approval of the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Page -3-