LABI: Tort Reform Top Goal for 2020 Legislative Session

Stephen Waguespack on Thursday set before One Acadiana his organization’s game plan for seizing the moment for business interests during the 2020 legislative session, which opens March 9 and ends June 1.

Waguespack, president and CEO of the Louisiana Association of Business & Industry, said the organization was actively involved in recruiting and coaching legislative candidates during the 2019 elections. It endorsed 18 of 39 senators, 46 of 105 House members. The harvest, he said, was a strengthened political foothold — not necessarily veto proof, but stronger — that made the changeover of both legislative chambers “historic.”

LABI’s aggressive political efforts reflected a need based on economic signposts that suggest a troubled Louisiana economy and more peril ahead. For example, he said, the state’s job growth is “anemic” compared to growth in neighboring states and its unemployment rate of 4.9 percent outpaces that of other nearby states.

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