Proposals to divert hundreds of million of dollars from protected funds to underwrite early childhood and higher education needs were met with mixed reactions today during a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee. The reduction of money from such funds has become a perennial issue at the Capitol, especially with revenue forecasts prompting lawmakers to find new sources of cash. There’s even a special task force studying the state’s various dedicated funds.
Tangible solutions with political momentum, however, have been difficult to come by. But Appropriations members did vote 11-5 to advance House Bill 833 by Rep. Jay Morris, R-Monroe, to pull dollars out of several funds and direct them to the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS. That’s the state’s popular scholarship program, and a political third-rail in the budget that’s always in need of saving.
Under Morris’ amended bill, 50% would be withdrawn a handful of protected funds and used for TOPS. The targeted funds are related to marketing, agriculture, alcohol and tobacco control, compulsive gambling, gaming, casinos and horse racing. It also pulls money from a fund related to the New Orleans Saints football team and Pelicans basketball team.
Morris said he picked those funds because they “weren’t tied to a fee for a particular purpose” and are “diversions of tax money” within the budget. “I don’t think these statutory dedications that are being diverted … are necessarily bad,” he said, adding they offer an opportunity to create a new source of revenue without increasing taxes. “We’ve have two special sessions where no revenue was raised. A lot will be raised this time.”
The committee adopted amendments that prohibited cash diversions from funds related to firefighters and forestry, as well as one fund related to horse racing prizes. The latest version of Morris’ proposal would now redirect $98.7 million to TOPS next fiscal year. Before certain fund diversions were eliminated by the committee, it would have directed up to $121 million.
Morris said after the vote that he is unsure how much more the House and Senate would alter his proposal. “We need the dues,” he said, quoting the movie Animal House. “We need to look in every nook and cranny before we raise taxes.”
In other action, the committee deferred House Bill 873 by Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, R-Metairie, which would direct 3% of the revenue from any gaming laws that are enacted this year to the state’s Early Childhood Education Fund. Lawmakers were concerned that the bill was premature, because there’s no guaranteed funding sources and some gaming proposals appear on shaky ground. “When we brought this bill, a lot of those bills were still on the table and in play,” Hilferty said.
Members also said the revenue may be needed in more pressing places, such as hospitals in jeopardy of closing. “We have no idea how much money this is going to bring,” said Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall. “We always want to spend things we don’t have.”
The committee may reconsider her bill next week. “I think what they were expressing mostly was the ability to have legislative ability to appropriate where they see the needs are in a given year,” Hilferty said after today’s vote.
Jeremy Alford will publish a daily update throughout the legislative session on Daily Report PM. Alford reports on Louisiana politics at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
