By DAN JUNEAU

Now that the Legislature has gone home, all the politicos and pundits can ponder the question of how much substance there was in this session. From the standpoint of job creation, the answer is easy to determine: Not much.

After a disappointing “economic development” Special Session in March, the Regular Session added little to Louisiana’s ability to keep the jobs we have and attract the jobs we need. The outmigration of Louisiana’s brightest and most skilled workers to other states where opportunity is better was not challenged by the actions of the governor and Legislature during the 45-day session.

But let us give credit where credit is due: Many legislators wanted to take some positive steps to enhance economic development, but they were prevented from doing so by the Foster administration and legislative leadership.

Sen. Robert Barham and Rep. William Daniel, in particular, fought the good fight to pass legislation to create the jobs that Louisiana desperately needs.

When the governor issued the call (agenda) for the Special Session in March, he could have written it in a broad fashion to allow legislators the opportunity to introduce a wide variety of plans to address the need to maintain and create jobs in Louisiana. Unfortunately, he did not choose to give the Legislature any degree of flexibility to be innovative in addressing what the voters consider (according to recent polls) the most critical problem facing the state: the lack of jobs and career opportunities.

In the Regular Session, a near-majority of the House and Senate signed on as co-authors of bills that would have attacked the two major disincentives to economic development in our state tax code: the inclusion of debt in the base of the corporate franchise tax, and the levying of sales and use taxes on business machinery and equipment. But, in spite of widespread support for these bills on both floors of the Legislature, they did not become law. The “credit” for that lies squarely with the governor, the speaker of the House, president of the Senate, and certain others in their leadership circle.

The bill to remove debt from the base of the franchise tax did pass the Senate – twice, in fact. But consideration of the original bill was delayed long enough to deny it the ability to make it through the House before adjournment. The Senate author of the legislation, Sen. Barham, then amended the franchise tax relief provisions into a House bill on the Senate floor. That bill passed by a strong margin and went back to the House where a simple vote to concur in the Senate’s amendments would have sent it to the governor’s desk.

Unfortunately, the governor did not want the bill on his desk and used all of his power, in conjunction with the speaker of the House, to make sure the bill did not come up for a concurrence vote. The governor, who in prior sessions had rammed through huge tax breaks and inducement packages for professional sports franchises and a bankrupt casino, did not want to end the ridiculous practice of taxing the debt of corporations in Louisiana (a practice that occurs in only one other state).

The governor obviously did not want to veto the bill and explain to many of our struggling businesses why he would oppose over $1.5 billion in new investment and 17,000 new jobs.

From an economic development standpoint, the legislative sessions of 2002 leave much to be desired. The public sector is still king and the private sector continues to suffer. But the most disturbing aspect of the sessions is that many of our top leaders do not understand that the public sector is doomed without more private-sector growth.

DAN JUNEAU is the president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.