Representative Emerson and Secretary Nelson outlined HB 7 as an Article 7 rewrite designed to consolidate stability and free up recurring savings for education. The bill would move the state’s revenue stabilization funds into statute (creating a larger, more flexible budget stabilization/rainy‑day fund), apply a $2 billion Millennium Trust payment to Louisiana’s Teachers’ Retirement System unfunded actuarial liability, and use the savings to make teacher pay raises permanent (up to $2,000 for teachers, $1,000 for support staff as framed in companion statutory language).

The measure also proposes to prohibit local sales taxes on prescription drugs (a policy long targeted as regressive), with sponsors contending expanded sales‑tax bases elsewhere in the package would compensate local governments. Senators pushed back, citing parish‑level revenue shortfalls (one parish projected a $23 million loss) and the difficulty some local governments face in separating prescription drug receipts in their current reporting systems. Secretary Nelson and sponsors said projected interest‑savings from the UAL payoff (cited by staff as roughly $300 million a year) and other package revenues would provide offsets, but acknowledged some local programs could require legislative backfill.

Witnesses representing early‑childhood, higher education and faith groups urged guaranteed protections for key programs (pre‑K, BESE allocations, university funding, and nonprofit property protections). The committee deferred the constitutional rewrite for further review and to allow staff to produce detailed calculations on local impacts.