Latest news with #MatthewPerschall
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Legislators approve transferring UNO to the LSU System. What happens next?
Flowers grow Dec. 15, 2022, in front of the University of New Orleans sign on Lakeshore Drive. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) Louisiana legislators have approved legislation that will kick off a lengthy process to transfer the financially embattled University of New Orleans to the LSU System from the University of Louisiana System. Senate Bill 202 by Sen. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, easily passed the House Monday and already has Senate approval. It must receive approval from Gov. Jeff Landry before it takes effect. The university's likely return to LSU's control is in response to UNO's acute budget crisis. The school faces a $30 million budget shortfall and has implemented a spending freeze, layoffs and staff furloughs in an attempt to make ends meet. The proposed state budget, which lawmakers have to approve by Thursday, includes $20 million to pay off UNO's remaining debts and $450,000 for a financial and academic audit of the university. Harris' legislation spells out several steps before the transition can be finalized. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX By Aug. 1, UNO President Kathy Johnson must send a letter to the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the accrediting body for most Louisiana colleges and universities, seeking approval for a change in UNO's governance. The LSU System Board of Supervisors must set up a transition committee that will make recommendations to the board based on the audit's findings. The transition committee's meetings are subject to the state's open meetings law, meaning it must meet and take any votes in public. The committee must be made up of legislators and stakeholders from the greater New Orleans region, and it must submit its report to the state Board of Regents and legislative education committees no later than April 1. The legislation instructs the UL System Board of Supervisors to work with their LSU counterparts so the transfer can take place immediately after SACSCOC gives its approval. Before the transfer receives accreditation approval, the UL and LSU boards are instructed to enter into agreements to transfer as many administrative and supervisory functions as possible to the LSU System before final approval is given. The UL board is also instructed to continue to balance UNO's budget in close collaboration with the LSU board. UNO's fiscal troubles are related to an enrollment decline. The school had a student body of around 17,000 before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with an immediate drop to around 6,000 after the storm. For the fall 2024 semester, its total enrollment was 6,488. Unlike UNO, every school in the LSU System has reported enrollment increases over the past few years, in contrast to nationwide trends of declining student numbers on college campuses. UNO had been in the LSU System since its founding 1958 until 2011, when alumni and boosters applauded the switch to the UL System because many felt the university was overshadowed by LSU. UNO would be the only undergraduate degree-granting school in the LSU System classified as an R2 university, meaning it has high levels of research activity, second only to LSU's main campus, which is a R1 school with the highest research activity rating. In the UL System, two other campuses have research-level rankings: UL Lafayette, an R1 school, and Louisiana Tech, an R2. UNO would be the only other school in the LSU System with an NCAA Division I athletics program. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Louisiana political campaigns might get to withhold more donation, spending info
Matthew Perschall/Louisiana Illuminator Louisiana lawmakers might diminish information available to the public about political donations and election spending through a sprawling rewrite of the state's campaign finance law. Gov. Jeff Landry is pushing House Bill 693, sponsored by House Republican Caucus Chairman Mark Wright, R-Covington. It carves out more circumstances under which political contributions and expenditures don't have to be disclosed on a public campaign finance report. The 101-page proposal is difficult to understand for people who don't deal with campaign finance regulations frequently. Even staff attorneys for the Louisiana Board of Ethics, which enforces the campaign finance laws, admit the changes are confusing. 'To be honest with you, it's going to take quite a grace period to figure all this out,' Ethics Administrator David Bordelon said when presenting the bill to the state ethics board last month. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Private attorneys Stephen Gelé and Charles Spies helped write the bill. They have represented Landry in multiple disputes he has had with the ethics board, including over campaign finance laws and enforcement. Gelé has said the proposal respects constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, while still providing transparency and 'preventing the appearance of corruption.' The state's preeminent government watchdog group disagrees. The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR) has come out against the legislation, saying the bill would benefit politicians while offering little for the general public. 'There is a very large bill, and I don't quite understand the problem it is trying to solve,' PAR President Steven Procopio said at a legislative hearing last month. In more than 20 places in the law, the bill increases the minimum dollar threshold at which a donation or expense has to be included on a public campaign finance report. For example, national political committees that raise most of their money outside Louisiana are required to publicly disclose their spending on a Louisiana election once it reaches $20,000. The proposed bill would hike that disclosure threshold to $50,000. The current law also requires any campaign contributions or expenditures over $200 given within the 20 days before the election to be reported on a public campaign finance report. The proposed law would hike that disclosure threshold to $5,000. Louisiana set to spend at least $7 million to bring Saudi-owned LIV Golf to New Orleans Over a dozen similar changes are also part of the legislation. Individuals who are not political candidates and groups that are not explicitly political committees could also spend money on an election without disclosing contributions they accepted for the politicking. Those who are not a candidate or a designated political committee would only be required to disclose election spending over $1,000 in a political cycle and if it involved: federally-regulated broadcast media; 500 pieces of mail; a phone bank of 500 calls within a 30-day period; or digital or print advertising with a candidate's image that's distributed in the area the candidate would represent within 30 days of their primary and 60 days of their general election These changes would apply to large, statewide elections and smaller ones such as those for police juries, town councils and school boards. Money spent to communicate with people in a 'membership organization' – such as a union, industry association or an athletic club – as well as employees and stockholders of a business also would not have to be reported as a political expense. This could include communication sent to thousands of people at once. In some cases, current campaign finance law obliges people to report this type of spending that would be shielded under the Wright bill. Supporters of the legislation said these exceptions were mainly carved out with so-called social welfare organizations in mind. The organizations, which critics call 'dark money' political groups, are registered with the IRS as 501(c)(4) nonprofits for tax purposes and are not required to disclose their donors under federal regulations. It's unclear to what extent the groups have to disclose their spending on Louisiana elections under current state campaign finance laws. Landry has set up at least of these 'dark money' groups, Protect Louisiana Values, to advance his political agenda. It also notably put up the money for Landry to rent a live tiger to attend an LSU football game last year. Defying Landry, Louisiana lawmakers reject giving him more control over licensing boards Former Gov. John Bel Edwards also established two of his own 'dark money' groups during his eight years in office: Rebuild Louisiana and A Stronger Louisiana. While limiting disclosure on political spending, Wright's legislation does open up allowable uses of politician's campaign funds to a much wider group of expenses, including their home mortgages, country club fees and gym memberships. The legislation is also one of a few bills Landry is pushing to soften ethics laws and regulations this session. Lawmakers in favor of them said they are reacting to overzealous enforcement by the ethics board. In 2007, former Gov. Bobby Jindal and legislators passed dozens of restrictions and public disclosure requirements for elected officials and public employees as part of Jindal's effort to reach a 'gold standard' of ethics for Louisiana that would be a model around the country. Lawmakers are now saying that effort was overreach that needs to be corrected. 'I haven't come across an elected official who has enjoyed working through this process and hasn't questioned what they did back in the Jindal era,' Wright said of ethics and campaign finance regulations. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
University of New Orleans transfer to LSU System expected to cost $23 million this year
The University of New Orleans sign sits in front of the University Center on Dec. 15, 2022. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) Louisiana lawmakers are advancing legislation to transfer the University of New Orleans from the University of Louisiana System to the LSU System at a cost of about $23 million, Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said. Senate Bill 202 by Sen. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, unanimously passed the Senate Tuesday. It will next be discussed in a House committee and must also receive approval from the House of Representatives and Gov. Jeff Landry before it takes effect. The bill would reverse the action legislators took 14 years ago to move UNO to the University of Louisiana System from the LSU System, which it had been a part of since the university was founded in 1958. The implementation of Harris' legislation is subject to funding. LSU estimates the transfer will cost $41 million in the first year and another $40.4 million over the next four years. 'That's more of a pie-in-the-sky type thing,' Harris said of LSU's estimate. Lawmakers don't plan to spend that much this year, Henry said in an interview after the vote. Instead, he expects to spend $20 million to wipe out debt to vendors and another $3 million for must-do deferred maintenance costs. Those deferred maintenance dollars will likely come from existing funds for campus construction projects, Henry said. The university's possible return to LSU's control is in response to UNO's acute budget crisis. The school faces a $30 million shortfall and has implemented a spending freeze, layoffs and staff furloughs in an attempt to make ends meet. UNO administrators have kept open the possibility of further layoffs and furloughs. Its budget crisis is largely tied to enrollment. The school had a student body of around 17,000 before Hurricane Katrina, with an immediate drop to around 6,000 after the storm. For the fall 2024 semester, its total enrollment was 6,488. Unlike UNO, every school in the LSU System has reported enrollment increases over the past few years, in contrast to nationwide trends of declining student numbers on college campuses. The Louisiana Board of Regents, which oversees all higher education in the state, has already approved the transfer. At the time of the system switch in 2011, UNO alumni and boosters applauded the plan, as many felt the university was overshadowed in the LSU System. UNO would be the only institution in the LSU System classified as an R2 university, meaning it has high levels of research activity, second only to LSU's main campus, which is a R1 school with the highest research activity rating. In the University of Louisiana System, there are two other schools with research-level rankings: the University of Louisiana Lafayette, an R1, and Louisiana Tech, an R2. UNO would also be the only other school in the LSU System with an NCAA Division I athletics program. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
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Tax breaks for Louisiana college athletes on NIL money punted under budget pressure
The new video display scoreboard in Tiger Stadium's north side as seen from the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sept. 13, 2024. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) Louisiana lawmakers have pumped the brakes on exempting college athletes' name, image and likeness compensation from income taxes as they work to approve a lean state budget. Two legislators who filed bills to exempt NIL payments from income taxes have said they will not pursue votes on their legislation, citing perception issues with giving well-paid student-athletes a tax break while tightening the belt on critical state services. 'It didn't seem like there was an appetite for creating a new deduction,' Rep. Rashid Young, D-Homer, said. 'It's partly perception and then partly real dollars.' Young's House Bill 168 would have exempted the first $12,500 of student-athletes' NIL income from state taxes. It would have aligned the exemption with the standardized deduction offered to every other Louisiana resident. It's not clear if this legislation is necessary for the athletes to receive the deduction, but Young said he wanted to make sure they get it. House Bill 166 by Rep. Dixon McMakin, R-Baton Rouge, would have exempted the entirety of an athlete's NIL income from state taxes. Both lawmakers said they would consider bringing back the legislation depending on the outcome of a study on name, image and likeness deals that lawmakers will undertake. Young's House Resolution 15 will create an NIL task force that will bring together lawmakers, college athletics officials, student-athletes and private business to discuss related issues and make recommendations to the legislature. Additional proposals are expected next year. Young said he hoped to get more transparency on athletes' NIL compensation. Louisiana laws exempt information related to NIL deals from public disclosure. Fiscal analyses for the two bills note that Louisiana's four higher education systems have 427 athletes with NIL deals worth a combined $17 million for the 2024-25 school year. Athletes are only required to report deals worth more than $600, meaning this is not a full picture of NIL compensation for Louisiana athletes. Though legislators are not taking action this year, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order Tuesday that aims to give colleges and universities legal cover to directly pay college athletes. The order purports to prohibit the NCAA, an athletic conference or another organization with oversight of college athletics from taking action against Louisiana schools that directly compensate athletes or facilitate NIL deals for them. NCAA rules currently prohibit the paying of players, but athletes are allowed to make money through NIL endorsement deals. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
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Louisiana election results: May 3, 2025
Voters leave the Bricolage Academy gym after casting their ballots in New Orleans, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) A lone legislative race and a smattering of local tax referendums around the state were put before Louisiana voters Saturday, when a sparse ballot had to compete with the usual spring schedule of festivals and events throughout the Bayou State In East Baton Rouge Parish, a special election was held to fill the vacancy in Louisiana House District 67. The position became open when Larry Selders won a February election for the state Senate seat vacated when Cleo Fields won the 6th Congressional District race last year. One notable item on Saturday's ballot was the Lake Charles mayoral race, with Republican incumbent Nic Hunter losing to independent challenger Marshall Simien Jr. Other highlights from Saturday's results included a rejected property tax referendum for the East Baton Rouge Parish district attorney's office. DA Hillar Moore had said the new millage was needed to bring his agency up to par in staffing and compensation with comparably large prosecutorial districts in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. The 4-mill levy was projected to raise $24 million annually, with Moore projecting there would be enough revenue generated for his office to return millions to the parish government general fund. With the new tax failing, resources for the district attorney will continue to come from parish government. In New Orleans, voters narrowly approved a property tax for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, which has the primary task of operating the city jail. The final vote tally saw the measure prevail by a margin of two votes out of more than 25,000 ballots cast. The results still have to be verified by the Secretary of State. Although the sheriff's tax has already been in place for years, opponents leaned into a 'no new taxes' message in their campaign against the 2.46-mill, 10-year collection. The tax is expected to generate nearly $14 million in revenue for the sheriff's office. St. Tammany Parish voters approved a bond sale for its public school system with a ceiling of $325 million. The debt is not expected to result in an increase to existing property millages dedicated to the school district. A property tax in Livingston Parish public schools was renewed for another 10 years. The 7 mills will generate nearly $5 million a year for the district. Rapides Parish voters also renewed two property taxes for their public school system, totaling 9.58 mills combined, for the next 10 years. They're forecast to generate more than $10 million annually. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
