Dollars and cents: East Baton Rouge is among five Louisiana parishes that have a sizable share of the 4,000 Louisiana borrowers who are are owed money from a settlement with mortgage servicers stemming from the 2008 housing bubble bust. The Louisiana Department of Treasury says it has received the $2.4 million foreclosure settlement and is encouraging residents to search for the money online or to call the office’s toll-free hotline at 1-888-925-4127. The average borrower is owed at least $300. “If you lost your home to foreclosure during the national credit crisis, check our Unclaimed Property database to see if you’re owed some money,” says Treasurer John Kennedy in a statement. “We just deposited more than $2 million that is owed to folks in Louisiana. We want to get this money back to you.”
Incoming: Louisiana is expecting on Friday to receive $200 million from BP, The Associated Press reports. The payment is the first portion of the state’s settlement for economic damages associated with the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill and is earmarked to fill state budget gaps. Louisiana is expected to receive up to $1 billion from BP as compensation for the spill’s economic damages, with payments to arrive over 15 years. Lawmakers earmarked the rest of the money for the state’s “rainy day” fund and an elderly trust fund. The economic damages dollars are separate from an estimated $5.8 billion Louisiana is expected to receive in other civil penalties from violations of environmental laws, money that’s required to be set aside for coastal restoration projects and environmental rehabilitation.
Out of the norm: Louisiana is becoming the first state in the Republican-dominated Deep South to expand its Medicaid program, The Associated Press reports. More than 233,000 people—largely the working poor—have been enrolled so far in the government-financed insurance coverage offered under the health law championed by President Barack Obama. The expanded coverage starts Friday. Medicaid expansion fulfills of one of Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ main campaign promises.Those eligible for coverage include adults ages 19 to 64 with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level—about $33,500 for a family of four. Republican legislative opposition largely disappeared when Edwards issued his executive order laying the groundwork for expansion, which is estimated to save Louisiana $180 million-plus in the new budget year.
