By Julie O’Donoghue | Louisiana Illuminator
Louisiana lawmakers voted this week to cancel a special session scheduled this month to potentially override a handful of vetoes Gov. Jeff Landry issued.
Twenty-one of 39 senators and 73 of 105 House members returned ballots saying they didn’t want to consider veto overrides, according to a tally legislative staff released Tuesday.
The governor vetoed six pieces of legislation and dozens of individual construction projects and initiatives out of three omnibus budget bills. Almost all of the items Landry, a Republican, rejected were sponsored by Democrats or located in Democratic legislative districts.
Veto override sessions are exceedingly rare in Louisiana. Lawmakers had never held one until 2021, when the Republican-controlled legislature was at odds with former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. They also called veto sessions in 2022 and 2023, before Edwards left office.
There wasn’t any expectation that lawmakers would go forward with an override session this year, but a vote is required annually to call it off.
Democrats are the bulk of the legislators who didn’t vote to cancel the override session. None of the 11 in the Senate sent in a session cancellation ballot, and only eight of the 32 in the House submitted one. Seven of 28 Senate Republicans and eight of 72 House GOP members also didn’t turn in ballots to cancel the session.
“I think everybody was impacted one way or another by a bill or a project [that was vetoed],” Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Gerald Boudreaux of Lafayette said of his fellow political party members.
On a personal level, Boudreaux wanted a chance to override Landry’s veto of his bill that would have increased state compensation for people wrongfully imprisoned. The legislature had passed the bill without any opposition.
“Given the vetoes, why would we [vote to cancel the legislative session]?” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Kyle Green of Marrero, who didn’t submit a ballot, said Wednesday.
Sens. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, and Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, didn’t submit ballots and said they never vote to cancel override veto sessions as a matter of principle. But both said they weren’t interested in overturning any particular veto this year.
Sens. Stewart Cathey, R-Monroe, Brach Myers, R-Lafayette and Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen said technical difficulties and oversights meant their ballots were accidentally not submitted. None wanted to hold a veto override session.
Rep. Joe Orgeron, R-Cut Off, was among the handful of House Republicans who didn’t vote to cancel the session. He wanted a chance to override Landry’s veto of his legislation to allow for new regulation of Atlantic tarpon fishing. Lawmakers had approved the bill unanimously.
“I’m the only Republican legislator that had anything vetoed by Jeff Landry this session,” Orgeron said Wednesday.