Louisiana Exodus Replaced By Economic Comeback: Jonathan Williams on The Hugh Hewitt Show

Louisiana, long considered a laggard in the competitive Southeast, is beginning to chart a different course. In his latest appearance on The Hugh Hewitt Show, ALEC President and Chief Economist Jonathan Williams discussed the reforms that are bringing the Pelican State back to economic growth.

The conversation opened with a striking comparison between Louisiana and Florida. Hewitt noted that in the 1950 census both states had eight congressional districts. Today, Florida has 28, while Louisiana has just six.

“That is just an amazing story that most people don’t know,” Williams remarked. “Florida being a no income tax state, being a state that’s followed a very much an ALEC framework of policy wins… and Louisiana now being stuck, in a very competitive region and a state that has been a laggard, not just in America, but especially in the southeast region.”

For decades, Williams said, Louisiana’s policies drove people away. “Louisiana lost over a quarter million people over the last 10 years on net alone to the other 49 states when you had John Bel Edwards at that point as governor,” he noted. Edwards, Williams added, “was expanding Obamacare by executive order and doing all four things to make Louisiana more dependent on the federal government and probably less competitive as a result.”

Now, however, the tone is shifting. “You have a much different outlook with Governor Landry and legislative leaders looking to turn the corner on what’s been a very painful number of decades for Louisiana,” Williams told Hewitt.

Hewitt pointed out that ALEC’s Rich States, Poor States rankings show Louisiana climbing from 31st to 18th among the 50 states, the largest jump in the nation. Williams credited a landmark tax reform: “They went to a 3% flat tax on personal income that Governor Landry signed into law. They realized they needed to be competitive.”

That tax reform is part of a broader package. “You combine that with their school choice opportunity program… tort reform… it has been an incredible turnaround story,” Williams emphasized. He cited balanced budgets, hiring freezes, and Medicaid rule scrubbing that saved tens of millions. “This isn’t rocket surgery,” he quipped. “This is common sense, the tool that every state has at its disposal.”

Tort reform, often overlooked, has also been crucial. “For far too long, I think the trial lawyers had been far too powerful in states like Louisiana, and they’ve been paying the price when it comes to consumers,” Williams said, noting that insurers had refused to write new policies. Early reforms, he added, are already restoring stability to insurance markets.

Louisiana’s rise, Williams stressed, is part of a larger shift. “Louisiana became part of this national movement… the flat tax revolution,” he said. “ALEC has [been] helping to lead” that push across the country.

For Louisiana, the turnaround is not yet complete. But the momentum, Williams argued, is real: “They needed to benchmark themselves… they didn’t like where they were benchmarking themselves, and they needed to do something different.”