Wednesday, January 31, 2007
$827 million budget surplus from last year
But spending cap poses hurdle for use
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Jan Moller
(excerpt)
BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana has an $827 million budget surplus from last year, a state panel affirmed Tuesday.
But most of the money can't be plugged into the current-year budget unless the Legislature agrees to raise a constitutional cap on spending. Lifting the cap requires at least a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, majorities that Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration was unable to muster during a contentious special session of the Legislature in December.
In addition to last year's surplus, the Legislature has more than $1 billion in unanticipated tax revenue available in the current fiscal year that also has not been plugged into the state budget because of the cap. Combined with last year's surplus, that means legislators have about $1.9 billion to spend in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, if they are willing to raise the cap.
Without action by the Legislature, the money would roll over into the 2007-08 budget, which takes effect July 1.
Louisiana Politics
