BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal says the new reality in Baton Rouge is a smaller, smarter, more streamlined state government.
To that end, Friday, he introduced a lean and mean $24.2 billion budget. That's 18 percent less spending than the current fiscal year. Jindal said it reflects the anticipated loss of federal dollars for health care and hurricane relief and a one billion dollar shortfall between revenue and expenses.
The budget uses a patchwork of one-time funds, including proceeds from the state's tax amnesty program and federal stimulus money to keep necessary programs afloat.
"In Washington, they print money, they raise taxes, they borrow money," said Jindal. "We're not doing that. We're submitting a balanced, fiscally conservative budget."
The governor is not cutting colleges and universities, a major target of last year's budget reductions. He is trimming more than $5 million from the state's four boards of higher education, Southern, LSU, the Board of Regents and the University of Louisiana system..
"This budget moves Louisiana forward on paths we should have been taking, even without the fiscal constraints," said Jindal.
The Jindal administration supports the concept of a single board for higher education. Westwego State Senator John Alario, who sits on the legislature's joint budget committee, said lawmakers will give the idea some consideration.
"A lot of folks would argue the boards are probably where the top heavy part is, and if you consolidate into one board, maybe you wouldn't need quite as many people, as many programs in that area, said Alario.
The budget plan calls for the elimination of another 3300 state government jobs.
Health care providers are bracing for another reduction in state compensation for Medicaid patients.
Some health care programs are also on the chopping block as the Jindal administration moves toward community based clinics and partnerships with private providers.
In the past, the state has relied heavily on the state's public hospitals for primary care.
"I think when we get into just what specific programs were cut in health care, if it's some real needy programs, I think the legislature will have a difficult time accepting that and we'll try to find some ways to correct it," said Alario.
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee is expected to begin the financial fine tuning, next Friday in Baton Rouge.
