Business-backed group releases budget blueprint

Blueprint Louisiana, a business-backed good-government group, today released 14 recommendations they say could produce between $972 million and $1.64 billion in savings and new revenue. Blueprint Chairman Bill Fenstermaker told the Baton Rouge Press Club that tough budget cycles can be good times for needed structural reforms that also address short-term funding issues. Suggestions include cutting the state work force by nearly 9,500 over two years, cutting by at least $100 million funds that are protected by statute but not by the state constitution, and loosening the Legislature’s control over college tuition. Some of the group’s suggestions have been floated and shot down in past legislative sessions, while others resemble proposals already endorsed by other groups or Gov. Bobby Jindal. Several proposals lack specifics. The group favors targeted cuts over across-the-board reductions to higher education. For a summary of Blueprint’s recommendations, click here. —David Jacobs