Lawmakers are making their first changes to Gov. Bobby Jindal's $24.7 billion budget proposal for next year in the House Appropriations Committee.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Lawmakers are making their first changes to Gov. Bobby Jindal's $24.7 billion budget proposal for next year in the House Appropriations Committee.
Among the largest points of contention for Monday's committee hearing is whether to use piecemeal financing from land sales, legal settlements and fund sweeps to pay for ongoing programs and services.
Conservative House Republicans say the patchwork budgeting causes repeated cycles of financial problems, leaving lawmakers to scramble to fill gaps when the dollars fall away.
Supporters of the one-time funding, including the Jindal administration, say without those dollars, health care and higher education would face unnecessary slashing.
House leaders want to strip the patchwork funding in Monday's committee, to get the budget through the House - and to then reinstate some of the money in the Senate.