BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Watching lawmakers work can be frustrating. The creation of laws and public policy is messy, fraught with hidden agendas and often driven by ego, rather than the best interests of regular folks.
Even when the motives appear to be pure, the process is unappetizing at best, frightening at worst.
The work at the Louisiana Capitol proved to be just as cringe-worthy this year in the now-ended regular legislative session, particularly the crafting of the $28 billion-plus state operating budget that takes effect this week.
It'll be a wonder if anybody truly can describe the details of what's in the budget as the new fiscal year starts Wednesday. Legislative leaders could hardly offer more than generalities as they urged their colleagues to pass the spending plans in the final hour of the session.
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"This is a hell of a way to do business," lamented Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, as he struggled to plow through the 55-page budget deal that was delivered to senators only minutes before they were asked to pass it.
The march down to the wire on a final budget compromise was inevitable given the sharp philosophical and political disagreements of the House and Senate — and the staunch refusal on either side to give in.
The differences emerged nearly as soon as Gov. Bobby Jindal introduced a 2009-10 budget in March that included deep cuts to higher education, health care and other state programs.
House leaders began to talk about the need to "do more with less," to cut the state work force and to downsize government while Senate leaders went to back-room discussions with their fiscal staff about patchwork proposals to drum up additional cash to fill in budget holes.
At times it appeared as though the two chambers were operating in parallel worlds.
The House passed a budget bill that slightly lessened higher education cuts, deepened state worker layoffs and patched money in agriculture and tourism programs to offset reductions.
The Senate all but ignored those plans and rewrote the entire budget bill, using money from a Senate-backed tax break delay and the state's "rainy day" fund to restore dollars to colleges, health care, tourism and agriculture programs.
The problem was the House had no interest in passing the tax break delay or using the rainy day fund. And even as that became clear, the Senate kept adding those proposals into money bill after money bill, creating a stalemate that lasted until the final week of session.
There was no public give-and-take. Senators dug in their heels, and House members used procedural move after procedural move to derail the money-raising proposals of the Senate, rather than debate the ideas.
Meanwhile, health care programs, colleges and state services hung in the balance, with no agency really able to ready themselves for the ever-nearing budget year because officials had no idea what level of funding they would receive.
Jindal offered little direction, at least publicly, and lawmakers openly complained about a lack of guidance and help for the budget negotiations from the governor. Four former governors trooped to the Capitol, urging Jindal to get involved — and to lead — in lessening planned cuts to higher education that college leaders and the ex-governors said would devastate campuses.
Publicly pressured, Jindal offered recommendations for compromise. The House took longer to agree than Jindal, but eventually backed a limited use of the rainy day fund that was less sweeping than the Senate plan. The House also finally took a vote on the Senate tax break delay it had refused to even debate, soundly defeating it.
A compromise was brokered on the final day of the session, with praise on all sides and both House and Senate leaders applauding themselves.
"I think it's a real success," said House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown.
Dollars were plugged into higher education, health care, tourism initiatives and legislators' pet projects. Cuts were lessened, though still substantial in some areas. Then, lawmakers packed up their desks and went home.
Maybe within a few weeks — or months — they'll be able to describe to their constituents what they did.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Melinda Deslatte covers the state Capitol for The Associated Press.