College, health care leaders brief senators on budget cut consequences

A state-run psychiatric hospital in central Louisiana shuttered. A program aiding families with children who have hearing, speech and motor control problems eliminated. College campuses pushed to financial emergency. Medical training programs threatened with loss of accreditation. These are just some of the dire consequences higher education and health care leaders outlined to senators today under the $25 billion budget proposal passed by the House for next year. The plan contains $268 million less in state funding than what was sought by Gov. Bobby Jindal. The Jindal administration is hoping the Senate will restore the funding, which was stripped by GOP lawmakers in the House who didn’t want to use patchwork, one-time money to pay for continuing expenses and programs in the budget year beginning July 1. The Republican governor, GOP House Speaker Chuck Kleckley and Democrats unsuccessfully fought the removal of the funding, saying it could devastate college campuses and health care services. The House budget includes a list of places the governor’s budget office should consider reducing, such as travel and supplies, vacant jobs and consulting contracts; but it gives Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater the discretion to choose targets from among listed items. House Republicans say the dollars can be cut from salaries and expenses without damaging critical services, and they included language in the budget bill that spelled out that Rainwater should make reductions that “cause no impact to critical services.” They didn’t define what that means. The Associated Press has the full story here.