Sen. Thomas Pressly | Special to BIZ Magazine
When I ran for the state Senate, constituents throughout Northwest Louisiana often raised frustrations with our economy. A stagnant business environment, lack of development, and policies geared more towards companies operating in 1983 rather than 2023, plagued our region’s opportunities.
While Texas boomed, Florida prospered, and even Mississippi and Alabama made progress, Louisiana stayed stuck in the mud, unable to attract large employers and the accompanying quality jobs and opportunities for higher wages and better benefits.
Today, thanks to the leadership of Gov. Jeff Landry, his administration, and a forward-thinking Legislature, Louisiana has made tremendous progress and sent a clear message to the nation that the Pelican State is open for business.
Now, real economic growth in Louisiana isn’t a pipe dream – it’s a reality.
The first step to shoring up our economy required improving our education system. For too long, Louisiana ranked at the bottom nationally in nearly every single positive metric, giving our kids a shaky foundation for their future and turning away economic developers due to the shortages in a qualified workforce.
With the Legislature, Superintendent Cade Brumley, and the Louisiana Department of Education rethinking the way that our children are educated, Louisiana has led the way in getting government out of classrooms, empowering teachers to teach, and implementing appropriate metrics to track success. Comprehensive literacy plans have ensured that every student reads on grade level by the third grade. Successfully meeting the metric of third grade reading is essential because kids learn to read until the third grade and then they read to learn.
Additionally, we’ve invested in high dosage tutoring programs to ensure that kids have the help needed to meet the reading goals. Louisiana has also expanded career and skill education opportunities at places like Caddo Career Center and BPSTIL, which will empower students with the skills needed in the workforce of the future.
The results are clear. The changes have worked.
Louisiana is now ranked 32nd nationally in education, the largest single jump of any state in recent memory. Our fourth graders have the highest growth in reading scores in the country for the second straight year.
Step two in allowing Louisiana to build for our future required simplification of our tax code and lowering rates.
For decades, Louisiana ranked as one of the worst business tax climates in the nation. High rates, coupled with a confusing combination of credits and deductions, led CEOs and c-suite executives to shake their heads and turn the page on our state, looking to friendlier states like Texas, Tennessee, and Florida.
That’s why my legislative colleagues and I acted almost immediately upon taking office, lowering the personal income tax rate from 5.5% to 3%, increasing the standard deduction, and outlining a vision to eliminate the personal income tax. We repealed the franchise tax that penalized investment and profitability, and lowered the corporate income rate to the southern average of 5.5%.
These moves have catapulted Louisiana in the tax policy rankings from one of the ten worst states to 26th, with opportunities for continued improvement on the horizon.
Louisiana also had work to do to cut red tape for blue collar jobs. By working in a bipartisan manner, the legislature has taken tremendous strides in reforming our occupational licensing process, eliminating needless licenses, streamlining bureaucracy, and holding boards accountable.
We’ve also passed major reforms in our insurance market through bills that ensure that bad actors can’t continue to game the system in hopes of a big payout, but we have more work to do in that arena.Upgrades to our transportation infrastructure are improving our business climate as well.
Critical road and bridge work is being addressed with I-20 nearing completion, cranes are standing tall to build a new Jimmie Davis Bridge in south Shreveport, and recent re-pavement projects on state highways throughout Caddo, Bossier, and Desoto Parishes are improving our daily commutes.
While much remains to be done, you can’t argue with the results.
Across the state, we’re seeing billions invested in communities as new jobs are created and exciting new industries relocate. Closer to home in Northwest Louisiana, Sumitomo Forestry is making a substantial investment in the Plain Dealing sawmill, SLB has invested $30 million, doubling its footprint and adding 600 new high paying jobs, there is the redevelopment of the Libbey Glass plant, expansion at LSU’s medical school, a new $50 million hangar at the airport, which are all sure to drive more investment.
Additionally, the announcement of the $12 billion investment into NWLA by Amazon is yet another major project that underscores the sentiment that Louisiana is indeed open for business.
For years, we’ve had the vision of a bustling and prosperous state and region with a population boom, new jobs, housing developments, and revitalized downtowns.
But it’s no longer a dream.
The foundation has been laid. The future is bright for our children, our grandchildren, and for generations to come.
And we are just beginning. As we start the 2026 regular legislative session, I am committed to continuing to build on the progress we have seen over the last few years and continue to advocate for Northwest Louisiana.
Sen. Thomas Pressly is a Republican in the Louisiana Legislature representing Caddo and DeSoto parishes in District 38.