Louisiana Senate President John Alario said Monday the suggestion the Legislature could carry over its budget deficit into next year made him sick, The News-Star reports.
“This gives me stomach pains,” Alario said during a Senate Finance Committee meeting in which House Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry’s bill extending potential budget cuts was being debated.
Although Louisiana’s Constitution requires lawmakers to balance the budget, Henry said it was one of the scenarios and contended it had been done with $117 million last year. House Fiscal Division director Patrick Goldsmith agreed it was a possibility if the budget wasn’t balanced.
But Alario, R-Westwego, said members didn’t knowingly move last year’s deficit into the current year. It was discovered later after the budget was technically balanced.
“Rolling a deficit into next year when we’re already facing a $2 billion deficit doesn’t make any sense; to even put that on the table … that’s a terrible way to conduct the people’s business,” Alario said. “We’ve got time to solve that within this fiscal year and we ought to do that.”
He said contemplating such a move would be a red flag for bond rating agencies. Moody’s already downgraded Louisiana credit rating last week. Henry, R-Metairie, said he was just presenting all of the scenarios to the committee.
“I’m just trying to let everybody understand,” Henry said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, seemed stunned that Henry would offer such a possibility.
“You sound like a congressman,” LaFleur said. “I think it’s a bad idea to deficit spend. One option I won’t present or consider is to layover a deficit into next year.”
Lawmakers are grappling with how to close a midyear shortfall that seems to grow daily. On Monday, the latest estimate had grown from $940 million to $960 million.
Jay Dardenne, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ commissioner of administration, said he believed knowingly carrying a deficit into the following year would violate the spirit of the constitution.
“I do not believe the authors intended that we could willfully carry forward a deficit,” Dardenne said. “It’s a nonsensical interpretation of the constitution.”
