BATON ROUGE, La.-- Lawmakers wrapped up the regular legislative session Thursday, negotiating a flurry of last minute tax breaks, keeping in tact Gov. Kathleen Blanco's spending plans and handing the lame-duck governor a string of victories.

An estimated $189 million in tax breaks for the new year that begins July 1 were sent to the governor's desk -- slightly more than the $180 million limit Blanco set before she said she would use her veto pen. The Democratic governor, who isn't running for re-election this fall, successfully fought Republican attempts to shrink next year's $29.7 billion budget.

"We have made bold investments in Louisiana's future, and we have delivered generous tax credits, tax savings, to the people and businesses of Louisiana," Blanco said at session's end.

Republican lawmakers lamented the size of next year's budget and the defeat of some of the tax breaks they sought.

"We put up a good fight. We won a few in that we're getting greater tax cuts than the governor proposed, but overall we lost on the expenditure battles, and that's a shame," said Rep. Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, chairman of the House Republican Caucus.

The largest tax break approved would go to taxpayers who itemize on their income tax forms.

But lawmakers also sent Blanco a litany of tax break proposals that would kick in a year after the 2007-08 budget and could saddle the next governor's administration with hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. Those include a repeal of the gift tax, a tax break for the working poor and a one-time tax break for homeowners with large property insurance increases.

Blanco said she hadn't made any decisions about vetoes -- noting she couldn't even keep up with the total price tag for all the tax cuts approved by lawmakers.

"We're going to weigh and measure the impact on not just this budget, but on future budgets," the governor said.

Blanco got nearly everything she wanted in her final legislative session -- at least a partial reversal of fortune for a governor whose proposals were stalled by Republican lawmakers in a December special session.

In this session, more than $32 billion in spending sought by Blanco was approved -- the nearly $30 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, plus $2.8 billion in surplus cash spending.

The state treasury has benefited from taxes on rising oil prices and continued spending on recovery from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Legislature followed Blanco's request to use $1 billion in state and federal recovery dollars to help bail out the "Road Home" repair and buyout program for homeowners with damage from the 2005 hurricanes. That program still faces a multibillion dollar shortfall.

Millions of dollars will be poured into Katrina recovery items specifically for New Orleans, including money for the expansion of mental health services, a new charity hospital in New Orleans, a loan fund for building and infrastructure repairs in the city, police equipment and damage repairs at City Park.

Lawmakers agreed to make Louisiana the first and last state in some categories: the first to ban so-called "partial birth" abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal ban earlier this year and the last to outlaw cockfighting, with an end to the sport planned for August 2008.

Next year's budget is packed with pay raises. It adds more than 1,100 new government jobs and increases spending in nearly every state department. It's $3 billion larger than the budget bill lawmakers approved last year and includes $500 million in new education spending and $500 million in new health care spending.\

Public school teacher pay will reach the Southern regional average, a long sought goal by governors and legislators.

"In this session, you and I have been able to put the largest investment in education that we've ever been able to do in this state. That's something you ought to go home and be proud of," said Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

But the session may be remembered more for the Legislature's continuing slide into partisan divides, as exemplified in the tax break and budget debates.

Republicans said the budget includes too much new, ongoing spending that the state may not be able to afford in later years. GOP House members tried to stall the spending plans but couldn't muster enough votes to maintain a stalemate that bottled up Blanco spending bills in the December session.

"We don't know five years out what our revenue picture's going to be," said Rep. Hunter Greene, R-Baton Rouge.

Still, GOP lawmakers won some of what they wanted.

Lawmakers reinstated certain itemized deductions for home mortgage interest, charitable contributions and certain medical costs, beginning on next year's tax returns and phased in over three years -- a tax break long sought by Republicans. The deductions had been eliminated as part of a 2002 tax overhaul known as the "Stelly Plan."

Rep. Taylor Townsend, D-Natchitoches, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee which handles tax bills, said the tax breaks for the upcoming year would cost $189 million, but he didn't have a tally for the effect of legislative action on later years.

The session also is notable because it marks the final session for the first group of term-limited legislators, under a provision that forces many lawmakers to head home or seek another office in this fall's election.

"I guess now it's time to return to the cheap seats," said Rep. Charlie Lancaster, R-Metairie, a longtime legislator bidding farewell to House members.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)