— WATCHING THE SUPREMES: The Louisiana Supreme Court could end up effectively picking its next member. Leslie Chambers, who the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal ruled last week is not eligible to run for the newly created majority-minority Supreme Court seat, is asking the high court to review that decision. Meanwhile, the plaintiff who challenged the candidacy of Chambers and Judge Marcus Hunter is asking the Supremes to overrule the 4th Circuit’s decision that Hunter can stay in the race. As of Monday afternoon, the Supreme Court had not announced whether it would take up either writ, though a decision is expected this week. If both candidates are ruled ineligible, Judge John Michael Guidry would win by default. The most recent campaign finance reports available online showed Chambers leading the money chase with $179,884 on hand, while Guidry had $140,137.75 and Hunter had $3,345.13. 

— LANE ON GREG MILLER ATTACK: Several Capitol insiders say Lane Grigsby is behind Louisiana’s Future is Now, Inc., which has created a video and a mailer attacking Senate Judiciary A Chair Greg Miller. Grigsby said that’s not the case, though he did give the entity money, and stressed that the policy issues are more important than who might be paying for an ad. During the regular session, Miller’s committee blocked or watered down tort reform measures that advocates argued could help bring down auto insurance rates, while advancing a bill tort reformers opposed. “We didn’t get anything done in the last session that’s going to be meaningful for the taxpaying public,” Grigsby said, while acknowledging that Miller didn’t block tort reform alone. “A lot of it falls on the governor.” 

— MAJOR CANDIDATES TO SKIP CD6 DEBATE: A Congressional District 6 debate KALB is planning for Aug. 22 will not include the major parties’ endorsed candidates. Cleo Fields and Elbert Guillory, endorsed by the state Democrats and Republicans respectively, do not plan to participate, both candidates told The Tracker. As of Monday, the debate was still on, and Democratic candidates Quentin Anderson and Peter Williams had confirmed their participation, said Colin Vedros, the KALB reporter and anchor who is slated to moderate. Wilken Jones Jr., a Democrat from Opelousas, also qualified for the race. 

— NEW ORLEANS VENDOR CONFUSION: The city of New Orleans cannot accurately determine how long it takes to pay vendors, which leads to payment delays, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor reports. Multiple vendors said invoicing the city is often a cumbersome process, and that required forms sometimes change without notice.

— MORE FROM LLA: Ascension Parish had 22 reportable instances of theft of public funds totaling $39,469 between September and December 2023, all but one of which was discovered by parish officials. An auditor also found the parish failed to comply with its water disconnection policy for two industrial customers that had outstanding balances totaling $63,222 and failed to adopt an itemized, ranked listing of road projects for the first fiscal year of a three-year program, as required by the Parish Transportation Act. In a separate report, an auditor noted that the Lafayette Parish Bayou Vermilion District was the victim of a business email compromise scam in March 2023, and a total of $149,749 was transferred. The district immediately reported the theft to authorities and all funds were recovered.

— TREASURER RAPS BANK OF AMERICA: Treasurer John Fleming says Bank of America should not be approved as an authorized fiscal agent for the state “because there is evidence that Bank of America is deliberately denying banking services to customers and potential customers (de-banking) of religious organizations, gun manufacturers, fossil fuel producers and others based simply on their political perspectives and activities, not because of any bank policy or law violations.” 

— LADA TACKLES LITTER: The Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association is partnering with Keep Louisiana Beautiful and Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser to display banners about the need to reduce roadway litter and supply litter prevention kits to new car buyers. The kits will include a car litter bag, a portable ashtray, an informational rack card, a bumper sticker, and a car coaster with the litter hotline number: 855-La-Litter.

— LCA ON DENKA’S FIGHT WITH FEDS: Denka Performance Elastomer, which employs more than 200 people in LaPlace, has been in a decade-long fight with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has “used enforcement actions, lawsuits, emergency orders and new rules in an attempt to strong-arm the facility into spending millions on emissions reduction and monitoring equipment—or shut down,” says Greg Bowser, who leads the Louisiana Chemical Association. Bowser defends the company in an exclusive column for tomorrow’s edition of Beltway Beat.