Committee delays action on restoring local vendors' compensation; stakeholders continue negotiations

The City Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs on April 28 voluntarily deferred Senate Bill 112, which seeks to restore vendors' compensation for local sales‑tax collection. The sponsor, Senator Jackson Andrews, said the bill responds to vendors who expected local compensation to remain in place after recent tax reforms.

Richard Nelson, Secretary of Revenue, testified the state had capped vendor's compensation at the state level last session and that his office prefers a uniform administrative approach if local compensation is restored. "We would like it to be easy to administer," Nelson said, explaining the department's recommendation mirrored the state cap approach to limit variance across parishes.

Retail representatives, including William Royster of Rouses Markets and Lafourche Parish tax collector Amanda Gragnier, urged reinstatement of local vendors' compensation without a cap. Royster described the administrative and financial burdens retailers shoulder, including credit‑card fees and use‑tax reconciliation, and said vendor's compensation helps insurers compensate businesses for those costs. Gragnier said local taxing authorities use vendor's compensation to incentivize timely and correct remittance.

Senators asked whether existing local ordinances survive the statute's repeal and whether reinstatement should be uniform. The revenue secretary said the prior authorizing statute had been repealed and the current landscape varies; some localities may interpret ordinances differently. Several senators said they favored a cap or sunset to limit fiscal exposure; others said the local authorities should retain discretion.

Senator Jackson Andrews asked the committee for more time to negotiate between local governments, retailers and the Department of Revenue. The chair accepted a voluntary deferral; the bill will return to committee after further work among stakeholders.