Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration has pushed back to mid-February the release of its proposal to close a $103 million budget deficit.
Jindal administration spokeswoman Meghan Parrish tells The Associated Press that the proposal to rebalance this year’s $25 billion budget will be presented to lawmakers at a Feb. 20 hearing for their consideration.
A day earlier, the Republican governor had said lawmakers would receive the deficit-closing plan this week for a planned Feb. 6 hearing. Parrish says the administration is “incorporating some new ideas” into the proposal and it will take more time to work out all the details. She wouldn’t provide specifics about the changes and whether they could lessen cuts.
Jindal also said Wednesday that he’ll offer lawmakers “suggested solutions” in February that could lessen the depth of next year’s budget cuts as the state grapples with a $1.6 billion projected shortfall.
The governor’s 2015-16 budget proposal is due to lawmakers Feb. 27; it will outline Jindal’s recommendations for closing the gap in the fiscal year that begins July 1. The Jindal administration already is floating the possibility the proposal will contain state financing cuts of up to $400 million for public colleges and $300 million for health care services.
But in an interview with The AP, Jindal says he’ll also pair the cut proposals he sends to lawmakers with a list of options to shrink some of the slashing. He said he can’t include money from the ideas in his budget because they’d need legislative approval to work.
“We’ll be presenting suggested solutions that the Legislature might want to consider that could help mitigate these impacts, particularly on higher education and health care,” Jindal says.
He wouldn’t provide specifics, except to say he wouldn’t support tax increases.
“We think that would be a mistake and would hurt our economy,” the governor says.
