Yesterday the “fiscal” session of the Legislature began, with the focus on the state budget and fiscal reforms.  Here’s a short round-up and highlights of newspaper editorials.

From the editorial in The Advocate, “A new tone for Jindal”:

While federal stimulus funds are mitigating the impact of the budget shortfall now, those funds are temporary. “The budget challenges get harder in the coming years,” Jindal said.

That warning, though, also was wrapped in an appeal for lawmakers to come together at the end of the session.

I hear you, Jindal all but said outright, and will work with you. That’s clearly the telegram legislators were meant to get before the hard work of balancing the budget begins today.

From The Shreveport Times editorial “Let’s start on the right foot”:

The governor Monday wisely sought to engage lawmakers rather than throw down a gauntlet, cajoling the Legislature to eschew partisanship and branch warfare.

"The solutions won't be Republican or Democratic solutions," Jindal said. "They won't be administration solutions. They won't be legislative solutions. They need to be Louisiana solutions."…

What happens over the next 60 days is crucial not only for positioning Louisiana for the eventual economic turnaround but for building a state able to weather any economic wind.

From the Alexandria Town Talk editorial “Memo to Legislature: Let’s do this”:

Nothing is hidden between the lines of Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan to bring fiscal discipline to Louisiana. It's all right there:

Get smart, and get serious -- or get out of the way….

Something that doesn't work is Louisiana's policy of padlocking most of the budget to "protect" those funds. The policy reflects the taxpayers' longstanding and justified distrust of its politicians. The result is well-known: Whenever budgets have to be balanced, health care and higher education pay the price….

The governor's five-point legislative agenda includes changing the rules so the governor and Legislature can review spending in its entirety every year, require programs to justify their spending through performance, and allocate taxpayer funding where it is needed.

That should be tackled immediately. It is an essential first step toward rethinking state government, reducing its size and providing common-sense solutions to complex problems.

And from the Monroe News Star editorial “Rise, meet our challenge”:

If our elected and appointed leaders cannot see a way through difficult times, we share with them the simple wisdom that likely resides in the homes and in the hearts of responsible citizens across Louisiana. It is this, passed on from grandparents to parents to children across the generations: If your wants are bigger than your wallet, keep your wallet in your pocket. You cannot spend — you ought not spend — what you don't have.

That message carries a moral imperative, one that says state leaders should behave responsibly during this budget session. They must act within the scope of our state's laws, within the realm of common sense and for the good of Louisiana and its people.

To that end, the governor's call for bipartisan collaboration and action should appeal to the best instincts of every public leader. Solutions, he suggested, will not be Democratic or Republican, executive or legislative. They must be "Louisiana solutions."

Find the entire editorials at the links provided.