Governor Landry urges voters to back Amendment 3, previews budget and tax goals in joint address

Governor Jeff Landry urged the Louisiana Legislature and the public to support a ballot measure he called Amendment 3 and laid out a broad agenda for the 2026 regular session, saying the proposal would reduce long-term retirement debt and convert savings into a permanent pay increase for public school teachers.

In a roughly hour-long address to a joint session of the House and Senate, Landry said the state’s budget for fiscal year 2026–27 will total $46.9 billion and emphasized that it is ‘‘built without temporary dollars’’ to avoid the recurring reliance on one-time funds. He described a package of priorities that included expansion of workforce training, further tax reform aimed at eventually eliminating the state income tax, and large transportation projects to repair roads and replace scores of bridges.

Landry framed Amendment 3 as a two-part measure: paying down a ‘‘massive long-standing debt’’ in the teachers’ retirement system and turning that progress into an ‘‘immediate, permanent pay raise’’ for classroom teachers. He urged lawmakers to ‘‘educate your constituents and encourage them to vote yes’’ and repeatedly characterized the amendment as responsibly funded and not a temporary stipend.

The governor pointed to recent economic indicators, saying Louisiana had attracted hundreds of billions in investment and added more than 124,000 private-sector jobs since his administration began. He cited job and wage statistics — noting an upward shift in average wages and claiming that many new positions pay substantially above the state average — as evidence that tax changes and a business-friendly approach are yielding results.

On education and workforce development, Landry proposed increased funding for vocational and technical programs, full funding of the TOPS scholarship program and expansion of a Louisiana Talent Accelerator to align training with high-demand jobs. He said only about 30% of new jobs require a four-year degree, and argued state policy should invest more in non–four-year pathways.

Health and safety items also featured in the address. Landry highlighted the state’s SNAP Healthy Food Waiver, a Project Mom initiative to reduce pregnancy-associated overdose deaths, and steps to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates to improve access to care in underserved areas. He also urged judicial reform after recounting a deadly case involving a juvenile under electronic monitoring, pressing for measures to hold judges and monitoring systems accountable.

On infrastructure, Landry called on the Legislature to create a state infrastructure bank as a revolving financing tool and touted recent investments: he said the administration had invested ‘‘more than $765 million’’ through a state transportation fund and was accelerating replacement of scores of bridges. He also proposed replacing the traditional vehicle inspection sticker with a $6 QR-code sticker to streamline inspections and help identify uninsured motorists — a proposal he urged lawmakers to consider.

Landry closed by asking lawmakers to ‘‘work together’’ and continued to press themes he framed as delivering tangible results to families: lower taxes, safer roads, workforce alignment and better government accountability.

What happens next: Landry’s remarks set the administration’s priorities for the session and asked members to refer relevant proposals to committee and to support outreach to voters on Amendment 3. No formal legislative action on Amendment 3 or on the governor’s budget occurs in this address; those measures will proceed through normal committee and legislative processes.