/ Local News

05/16/2008

By MELINDA DESLATTE  / Associated Press

The Louisiana House signed off Thursday on a $30 billion budget proposal for next year, adding a costly school support worker salary bonus but refusing to restore cuts to health care and education programs favored by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Lawmakers added about $50 million in new spending to the 268-page budget bill that would pay for state government operating expenses in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. The spending plan heads next to the Senate for debate, after receiving a 102-0 vote from the House.

The budget proposal is less than what Jindal recommended and cuts salaries he sought for his top economic development officials.

Rep. Jim Fannin, who as chairman of the Appropriations Committee handles the budget bill in the House, fought off most big-ticket changes sought by lawmakers, saying the state was limited in what it could afford — despite record surpluses and revenues.

"We don't have enough money to fund every need that everyone would like to have. It's a tough decision to tell someone that we can't fund them," said Fannin, D-Jonesboro.

Jindal recommended millions more in new spending for the state Medicaid program that provides health care services to the poor, disabled and elderly, for public colleges, for environmental programs, and for elementary and secondary education initiatives. However, the Appropriations Committee removed those dollars, and the full House refused to restore them.

Fannin said the state couldn't afford all the new spending sought by Jindal, but he said the reductions shouldn't be described as cuts. "We're just not giving them new dollars," he said.

Over Fannin's objections, House members narrowly agreed to add nearly $49 million to give public school support workers — like bus drivers, cafeteria workers and teachers' aides — a one-time $1,000 bonus. The dollars, approved in a 43-41 vote, would come from an existing nearly $100 million economic development fund.

Rep. Herbert Dixon pushed for the support worker bonus, saying many of the 40,000 school employees bring in far too little to afford rising gas and food prices.

"Our support personnel throughout the public school system, throughout the state of Louisiana are hurting, and they need help from us," said Dixon, D-Alexandria.

The House also voted to cut the salary Jindal wants for Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret from the $320,000 a year the governor sought to the $245,755 salary paid to Moret's predecessor. They also shrank the pay proposed for Moret's top deputy, Steven Grissom, from the $237,500 per year proposed by the governor to the $143,460 paid to his predecessor.

Several lawmakers said they couldn't explain to their constituents the large pay boosts pushed by the governor. Rep. Hunter Greene, R-Baton Rouge, a Jindal ally who pressed to reduce Moret's pay, said Moret would make more than all U.S. cabinet secretaries and more than twice as much as the national average paid to other state economic development secretaries.

"This is nothing about Mr. Moret ... He is a very qualified person for this job. He is eager, and he is working hard. But unfortunately, $320,000 I believe exceeds the limit of what we need to pay someone who works for government," said Rep. Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles.

The budget bill includes more than 1,000 fewer government jobs and new dollars to give public school teachers an average $1,019 annual pay raise, to hire new state troopers and to pay for 140 local pet projects sought by lawmakers totaling about $15 million.

The House overwhelmingly turned away an attempt to strip the local projects out of the bill, with lawmakers arguing they are worthy organizations that provide needed services in their districts.

Last year, lawmakers approved a $29.7 billion operating budget for the current 2007-08 budget year, which grew to $34.3 billion as new federal dollars — almost entirely recovery aid after hurricanes Katrina and Rita — were added throughout the year.

The $30 billion budget approved by the House for next year is less only because of the loss of one-time federal hurricane recovery aid that only passes through the state budget, not reductions in state government program spending.

The House also on Thursday approved and sent to the Senate a $4.8 billion state construction budget for the upcoming year.

Many of the construction projects won't be funded for several years. Half the construction budget includes road projects and other items that have direct cash lines of funding, but the other half includes projects that will be funded through state borrowing.

Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration overcommitted the state to hundreds of projects that will take years to pay off, so the construction budget bill includes few new projects beyond the Blanco commitments.

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On the Net:

The budget bill is filed as House Bill 1 and can be found at http://www.legis.state.la.us