There are 10 constitutional amendments on tomorrow’s ballot for you to weigh in on – everything from property tax exemptions for seniors to prohibiting bail for those accused of certain crimes against children to limiting governors to two lifetime terms. Steven Procopio, the president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, says while some of the amendments may seem complicated, they’re not rocket science.
“It’s like trying to explain a 2-point conversion to someone who doesn’t understand football. The 2-point conversion is pretty simple; but you need to understand football in order to get there,” Procopio said.
Procopio says take time to do some digging into some potential unintended consequences of some measures, particularly those dealing with tax breaks for seniors.
“It provides a pretty clear benefit to those over 65, depending on how much they make. But over time we see that it can, in fact, erode the property tax base of a municipality or a parish. So that means you have less money for services,” Procopio explained.
Procopio says if you decide to relive your college days and cram at the last minute to learn about the amendments the day before election day, PAR has you covered.
“We have a full guide that goes into detail on each of the amendments, telling you what the status quo is as well as what the changes are. We also have a one-pager; we have little videos that we put out,” Procopio noted.
For more information, go to www.parlouisiana.org.