| Good Morning, After a boisterous Mardi Gras holiday, political Louisiana has settled into preparing for the 2022 Regular Legislative Session that begins Monday at noon and must be completed by 6 p.m. Monday June 6. Gov. John Bel Edwards will address 1 p.m. Monday a joint meeting of the Louisiana House and the state Senate. A report on the judiciary is expected Tuesday afternoon. The rest of the week’s afternoons will be taken up with sexual harassment and ethics training. Committees will meet in the morning next week to start moving the mountain of legislation through the process. Representatives filed 807 bills and senators added 390 more. Plus, lawmakers will consider nine resolutions. The lot includes another effort to eliminate the death penalty as well as considerable legislation addressing education. Legislation includes the latest attempt by advocates who pushed school vouchers with what is called education savings accounts, or ESAs, which would allot families access to the state's share of annual school aid – around $5,500 per year – to help pay for private school tuition, tutoring services, supplemental materials, or technological devices. Other school bills sure to spark arguments would reopen debate on whether the state should bar transgender teens from participating in teams that do not align with their gender at birth, require school districts to offer pre-school classes as part of their kindergarten programs and force third graders who are struggling with reading to repeat the grade. Lawmakers can only focus on finances, pass taxes and the such, during odd-numbered years. But this even year pushes money to the top of the agenda. Federal largesse – aimed at averting a recession because of COVID-19 pandemic measures – has led to a booming economy in Louisiana and billions of dollars to spend. Recalling the problems created the last time the state was flush, legislators and the Edwards’ administration are trying to remain conservative, not grow government with services that need to be paid annually, pay down debt, and push a lot of the excess money into one-time investments. Before legislators can go too far down the road, they need to tidy up from the special redistricting session that ended two weeks ago. The deadline is looming for Democratic Gov. Edwards to sign or veto the legislation in which the majority Republican Legislature boldly drew districts that guarantee GOP dominance for the next decade in the House, Senate, Congress, and other elected seats. If he vetoes, then the legislative session could include an effort to override Edwards’ refusal. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave a slight victory – at least for now – to Democratic challengers of Republican-drawn congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania by refusing to overturn lower court rulings, thereby allowing alternative maps that favor a few more Democratic candidates. Louisiana’s redrawn election maps also are likely to be decided in court. As always, check throughout the day for the latest Louisiana political news at theadvocate.com/politics or NOLA.com/politics and on Twitter at @MarkBallardCNB, @tegbridges, @samkarlin, @blakepater, @WillSentell. Here are a dozen articles, commentaries and editorials that will catch you up for the week to come. One last item: Thank you to our subscribers. Your support means a great deal to us. If you're not yet a subscriber, we’ve got a special offer you can check out here. – Mark Ballard | 
