[Editor's Note: Below is a longer version of the story posted earlier Friday. Louisiana Budget Project Executive Director Jan Moller released the following statement concerning the proposed budget:
"This is an unbalanced budget that kills jobs and continues to erode Louisiana's investments in health care and education while asking more of college students and families struggling to get to the middle class. It is especially devastating to those who rely on Louisiana's unique health-care safety net, which would be largely dismantled and privatized with no guarantee that vital services would be preserved.
This disappointing budget would have been better had Gov. Jindal followed the lead of Rick Scott in Florida and other governors who acted in their states’ best interests by accepting new federal support for expanded Medicaid coverage.”
This budget also does not account for the administration’s plan to cut taxes for the well off by shifting more of the responsibility onto middle-class and low-income Louisianans."
For a full LBP analysis of Gov. Jindal's budget, click here.]
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal's $24.7 billion budget proposal for next year pours hundreds of millions in patchwork funding into public colleges and assumes hefty savings from the privatization of LSU hospitals to make the numbers work.
The governor's spending plan for the 2013-14 fiscal year was unveiled to lawmakers Friday by Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols, who described it as a challenge to close a more than $1 billion gap.
"We made every effort we can to be smart about the way we deliver services in government," Nichols told the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.
Jindal's budget assumes millions of dollars in property sales, savings from legislation that hasn't passed and the management turnover of most LSU public hospitals to private facilities to stay in balance.
Lawmakers, weary of five years of budget deficits, questioned those assumptions and pressed for more details about the uncertain financing.
"What if the property sales don't happen or any of those types of contingencies? Are we going to be faced with another midyear budget cut?" asked House Speaker Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles.
Sen. Francis Thompson worried about the loss of health care services in his region because the governor's budget assumes that the LSU hospital in Monroe will be taken over by a private hospital and state funding is stripped for most of the year.
No plan is in place with a so-called "private partner" for the Monroe hospital, however.
"We're not even saying who that somebody is. I've got to have more than that," said Thompson, D-Delhi.
Nichols replied, "We have not put anything in the budget that isn't expected to fully materialize."
"That's not good enough to me," Thompson said. He added, "I'm concerned. The people of this state should be concerned. That's not the way you plan a budget, in my opinion."
Nichols pledged that the services offered at the university health care facilities will continue.
The governor's spending plans assume at least $781 million in savings from the privatization of eight of the 10 university-run public hospitals, even though the contracts aren't final and some deals haven't even been announced.
For the public colleges, Jindal relies on $424 million in one-time sources of money, such as property sales and bond refinancing, and $75 million in tuition increases to keep Louisiana's colleges funded at their current level.
Jindal's budget includes minimal cuts to the health department and would keep spending rates flat for public schools. It would cut more than 10,000 government jobs — 7,300 of those for the LSU hospital workers who would be laid off and required to reapply for their positions with the private managers.
Release of the proposal kicks off the start of legislative budget negotiations. House budget committee hearings are set to open March 12.
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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