State. Rep. Phillip DeVillier said he plans to focus on jobs and COVID-19 during the special session set to begin Monday.
“I think the overall goal is extremely broad...” he said of the session.
The session will include COVID-19 federal funding, unemployment benefits, the hurricane disaster, education and the governor’s orders on coronavirus mandates, he said.
DeVillier said he will seek to remove the severance tax on new oil and gas wells as well as on working old wells.
DeVillier said he would focus on “anything I can do to try to get people back to work. That’s going to be the biggest focus.”
He will seek to get rid of penalties in reference to mask mandates and the number of people in businesses that have been ordered by Gov. John Bel Edwards.
On Tuesday, Edwards said the session should be limited to 10 to 14 days and not up to 30 days as well as limited the topics to five instead of the 70 on the Legislature’s agenda.
According to The Advocate, the governor also said it would make no sense for the Legislature to impose restrictions on his ability to spell out rules on restaurants, bars and public gatherings in the battle against the coronavirus.
The special session can last until Oct. 27.
Edwards is a Democrat and the Legislature is majority Republican.
DeVillier, of Eunice, is a Republican and represents District 41 that includes Eunice and much of rural Acadia Parish.
Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, said while the 70-item list of items in the call is “expansive,” lawmakers wanted to give themselves plenty of flexibility.
House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, said a significant number of House members believe the governor’s rules to combat the virus represent “an imbalance of power.”
Edwards said the state Constitution invests him with the authority to take steps during a public health emergency and he has no intention of surrendering it.
Edwards also said his critics have never spelled out specifically what they object to in his anti-virus measures.
The governor announced earlier this month that the state was moving to Phase 3 for the reopening of its economy, which allows businesses, restaurants and churches to operate at 75% of capacity.
Edwards and legislative leaders agree that action is needed on the fund that pays for weekly unemployment benefits.
It has dwindled from about $800 million earlier this year to around $90 million today amid skyrocketing unemployment claims sparked by the pandemic.
Edwards said the best solution would be for Congress to pass a bipartisan bill that includes aid for state and local governments, including flexibility on how to use the dollars.
Edwards said another option would be for the state to use remaining portions of its share of the $2.2 trillion federal CARES Act to help shore up the Unemployment Trust Fund.
Borrowing from the federal government is another option.