BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana House has agreed to a $25.6 billion budget for next year that includes hundreds of millions of dollars in spending above the figure sought by a group of conservative Republicans.
Lawmakers voted 62-40 Sunday for the Senate version of the spending plans for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The vote gave final passage to the measure, sending it to GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal. He supports the larger budget, rather than the deeper cuts sought by the conservative bloc.
The vote wrapped up one of the major issues in the three-month regular legislative session, which must end Monday by 6 p.m.
The budget contains more than $270 million in one-time money to pay for ongoing programs and services in state agencies.
