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Regular Session, 2011 APPROVED
SENATE CONCURRENT STUDY REQUEST NO. 1
BY SENATOR BROOME
A CONCURRENT STUDY REQUEST
To request that the Senate Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs and the House
Committee on House and Governmental Affairs meet and function as a joint
committee to study and make recommendations relative to the feasibility,
desirability, and practicality of a joint rule requiring that a poverty impact statement
be attached to any fiscal note that is attached to a legislative instrument.
WHEREAS, over nineteen percent of Louisiana residents live at or below the federal
poverty level; and
WHEREAS, the following information would be of great assistance to each member
of the legislature in determining the financial impact of proposed legislation on the residents
of the state:
1. The projected ratio equal to the amount of the fiscal effect of the bill or joint
resolution that will benefit individuals and families at or below the "poverty threshold" (an
income level below two hundred percent of the federal poverty level) over the total fiscal
effect of the bill or joint resolution; and
2. A projection of the number of individual and family incomes that may decrease
below the poverty threshold, or that may increase above the poverty threshold, because of
the bill or joint resolution; and
3. A projection as to how the legislation improves access to basic human services,
including health care, housing, and education; and
WHEREAS, any poverty impact statement should not constitute a part of the law
proposed by the measure to which it is attached, but should be factual, brief and concise, and
should not contain reference to the merits of the measure; and SCSR NO. 1 APPROVED
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WHEREAS, concerns over confidentiality dictate that all state agencies or political
subdivisions and agencies thereof involved in the preparation of the required information for
a poverty impact statement should keep in strict confidence the subject matter of the
proposed measure and the information contained in the poverty impact statement prior to the
filing or prefiling of any such measure; and
WHEREAS, because of the concern for the possible effects of proposed legislation
on those residents of the state living near the federal poverty level, a study should be made
of the advisability of attaching a poverty impact statement to any legislative instrument that
requires a fiscal note.
THEREFORE, the Legislature of Louisiana requests that the Senate Committee on
Senate and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on House and Governmental
Affairs meet and function as a joint committee to study and make recommendations relative
to the feasibility, desirability, and practicality of a poverty impact statement being attached
to any fiscal note that is attached to a legislative instrument.
The Legislature of Louisiana further requests that the joint committee make a written
report of its findings and recommendations to the secretary of the Senate and clerk of the
House of Representatives not later than thirty days prior to the convening of the 2012
Regular Session, together with any specific proposals for legislation.
The Legislature of Louisiana further requests that the joint committee also transmit
a copy of its findings and recommendations to the Legislative Fiscal Officer.
A copy of this Study Request shall be transmitted to the Legislative Fiscal Officer.