Higher education officials, public school teachers and health care providers would like nothing more than an avalanche of state money to suddenly appear before the end of the fiscal year on June 30, but Jeremy Alford says many instead are coming to grips that additional funding is unlikely to block significant budget cuts.
“There’s already talk circulating, in fact, about eliminating courses on campuses and closing parish health clinics,” Alford writes in his latest column. “But really, no one is quite sure what to expect in 2017 when it comes to the Republican-led Legislature and Louisiana’s Democratic governor. Thus, the doomsday scenarios. They’re being crafted right now by agency and department heads across state government.”
Alford says planning is wise, given the $304 million shortfall assigned to the final five months of the fiscal year. But he notes that it’s also politically shrewd as lawmakers march toward a special session.
“After all, nothing primes the session pump like a bit of political pressure. The higher education community, in particular, is starting to push back against conservative lawmakers who don’t want to use the Rainy Day Fund to erase $119 million from the $304 million deficit,” he writes. “Some Republicans argue that the emergency savings account has been used too often in recent years—even as the Edwards administration stands in the rains of fiscal uncertainty with umbrellas and quizzical looks.”
Higher ed officials say instruction on college campuses would be among the first areas to get cut if lawmakers vote against tapping the Rainy Day Fund to address the shortfall and instead opt for deeper cuts, Alford notes.
A two-thirds vote will be needed to access the fund, he says, adding that the vote is already shaping up to be one of the most important votes of February for the Edwards administration.
“The fight is mainly on the House side, where the so-called ‘Gang of No’ has created headaches for the governor’s team,” Alford writes. “Democrats claim that the gang of roughly 20 or so GOP representatives refuses to vote in favor of tax increases, but also won’t agree to spending reductions. Now some of the ‘No’ members are also questioning the use of the Rainy Day Fund, as proposed by the administration.”
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
