More than $400 million in unspent cash from Louisiana’s better-than-expected tax collections would pay for roadwork, coastal protection projects and public college programs, among a long list of spending plans under debate by lawmakers.
The package of budget bills would plug gaps in the TOPS college tuition program, pay down debts, steer money to legal judgments owed by the state and cover the fire marshal’s overtime for investigating the burnings of three black churches in St. Landry Parish.
Dollars would be invested in computer upgrades, socked into a savings account and steered to lawmakers’ favored local projects. Much of the spending matches recommendations made by Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Louisiana had a $308 million surplus from the budget year that ended June 30, dollars limited in use by the state constitution. The state also has another $110 million in unbudgeted money for the current year, based on revised tax collection estimates.
Plans to spend the money are contained in three budget bills, two of which won unanimous House backing Thursday and await debate in the Senate. House lawmakers will start advancing the third measure, the state’s construction budget bill, next week.
Under the constitution, one-quarter of last year’s surplus, $77 million, flows to Louisiana’s “rainy day” savings account. Another 10%, about $31 million, must pay down debt in the retirement systems for state workers and public school teachers.
Lawmakers propose to send $25 million of the unbudgeted cash to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to cover a portion of Louisiana’s share of ongoing disaster recovery efforts. Another $9 million would pay legal judgments, money owed to people who successfully sued the state. Read the full story about the surplus. Â
