Gov. John Bel Edwards sued Louisiana’s state treasurer Friday for blocking a $25 million fund transfer the governor and lawmakers earmarked for government operating expenses, asking the courts to settle who has ultimate authority over the dollars.
Republican state Treasurer John Schroder repeatedly has said that if the Democratic governor wants to spend the unclaimed property dollars included in the state’s budget, he’d have to take him to court. After months of disagreement, Edwards complied, filing the lawsuit requesting a judge declare Schroder’s actions illegal.
Lawmakers appropriated the unclaimed property dollars in Louisiana’s $30 billion-plus operating budget. But Schroder has refused to shift the money for spending, and he similarly blocked a $15 million fund transfer last year.
“He doesn’t have the discretion not to abide by an appropriation that has been lawfully made by the Legislature,” the governor said ahead of the lawsuit’s filing in Baton Rouge district court.
Louisiana collects unclaimed dollars from old savings accounts, payroll checks, stocks and dividends, insurance proceeds, oil royalty payments and utility deposits on behalf of residents. The treasurer’s office, designated as custodian of the property, tries to locate people owed the cash and return the money.
Though governors and lawmakers for decades have spent money from the unclaimed property escrow account on programs and services, Schroder says he and his office’s lawyers don’t believe Louisiana law permits the transfers.
Edwards and some legislative leaders say Schroder is exceeding his legal authority, meddling in the House and Senate’s constitutional jurisdiction over Louisiana’s purse strings. Schroder, in office since December 2017, says the money belong to individuals and the state shouldn’t spend it.
The blocked transfers so far haven’t caused budget gaps because Louisiana has had surpluses.
Louisiana has spent about $25 million to $50 million from the unclaimed property account annually for years, with $15 million shaved off since 2008 to pay for Interstate 49 projects and the remaining dollars poured into the general fund to pay for a variety of programs. The lawsuit says more than $372 million from the unclaimed property account has helped pay for government operations since 2005. Read the full story.
[polldaddy poll=10502831]
