Making cents: With only minor tweaks, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to use a mix of patchwork financing and modest cuts to close a budget deficit topping $170 million won approval Thursday from a committee of state lawmakers, The Associated Press reports. Legislators were under the pressure of a procedural rule that gives them a limited amount of time to rebalance the budget before forcing a special session. Lawmakers swapped some financing sources, scrapped cuts to agriculture department jobs and eliminated cuts to road maintenance work. The deficit arose when budget economists revised their revenue forecast in light of falling oil prices and anemic personal income and sales tax growth. Some lawmakers are worried they’ll have to make more cuts before the fiscal year ends on June 30. The Associated Press has the full story.
And the survey says: Louisiana’s education policies are the most important thing for the next governor to address, according to a third of voters interviewed in Southern Media & Opinion Research’s latest poll. An additional 7% specifically identified Common Core and state testing as their primary concern, and another 6% specifically identified higher education. Jobs and economic development fell second on the list, with 26%, followed by health care, at 15%. When asked if they preferred the next governor to be Republican or Democrat, 23% said they were undecided or wouldn’t say. Republicans pulled 44%, with Democrats at 33%. Both Democrat and Republican voters oppose spending state savings to balance the budget. The poll consisted of interviews with 600 likely Louisiana voters and was funded by private subscribers. See a copy of the poll results.
Closing time: A year without tropical storms in Louisiana waters allowed the state’s shrimpers an easy start to the fall shrimping season that closes Monday, but November cold fronts reduced harvest numbers, according to a report from The Courier. “I’ve seen better seasons and I’ve seen worse seasons,” Daren Martin, owner of Martin’s Fresh Shrimp in Chauvin, says. The closure applies to inside state waters and some state outside waters. Martin says he will now focus on the outside waters that remain open farther out into the Gulf. The closure comes as Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologists have determined the average size of shrimp brought in is below a certain metric. The Courier has the full story.
