By now, you’ve no doubt heard the dire news of Louisiana’s 2015-2016 operating budget and the $1.6 billion shortfall that’s tearing it asunder, says Jeremy Alford in his latest column.
“What you may not know about is the state’s other big budget—the one specifically for construction projects—that also needs to be tamed sooner than later,” Alford writes. “It’s formally known as the capital outlay bill, and more informally as the construction budget. But I like to think of it as a new piñata that gets hauled out every year and stuffed tight.”
Alford notes everything from university dorms, hospital elevators and flood walls are annually packed into the capital outlay bill, alongside less urgent needs like a new headquarters for a local Junior League, a community center for a lawmaker’s high school alumni group and grounds improvements for a parish fair (all actual projects from the 2014 bill).
“The budget piñata is eventually cracked open, with the honor falling to the governor. Like his predecessors, Gov. Bobby Jindal gets to decide which lawmakers get their goodies from the papier-mâché pelican,” Alford writes. “The governor’s stick comes in the form of an agenda that’s presented to the Bond Commission, since the money for the construction projects largely comes from bonds. If a lawmaker’s project ends up on the agenda, they win.”
That gives the governor a powerful bargaining chip during session, Alford says.
“This is the worst kept secret in legislative politics. If a lawmaker wants construction cash for their local church (yes, that can be found in the 2014 capital outlay bill, too), then they may be asked to vote with the administration,” he writes. “Horse-trading is legislative currency, and few are bothered by stepping in it.”
It’s not unusual for the capital outlay bill to be overcommitted by hundreds of millions of dollars, Alford notes.
“Sometimes it seems like everyone gets to stick something in, even if it has little chance of being funded,” he writes. “So what’s the solution?”
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.
