House Republicans on Tuesday released details of spending controls they want from Gov. John Bel Edwards in exchange for considering taxes to fill Louisiana’s $1 billion budget gap, describing their passage as required to reach a financial deal.
The three-page list, proposed by House Speaker Taylor Barras, represents an ultimatum of sorts as House GOP leaders and the Democratic governor haggle over how to replace expiring sales taxes that threaten to force sizable cuts when the new budget year begins July 1. The proposals would tighten limits on annual state spending growth and create a new website to track state spending.
In the Medicaid program, some patients would be charged copays for certain health services and medications and premiums for the government-financed insurance, and some non-elderly adult enrollees would be required to work or lose their coverage.
Exemptions for the work requirements would be allowed for children, people with disabilities who are deemed “unfit for employment,” pregnant women, people in a drug treatment program, or parents caring for children under the age of 1 or children with severe disabilities. Others would have to work—or participate in a volunteer or training program—for at least 20 hours a week.
