BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — People won't be able to make donations toward Louisiana's debt repayment efforts.
The House overwhelmingly rejected a proposal by Republican Rep. Beryl Amedee, from Gray, that would have created a new state fund to accept grants or donations to pay down state debts.
Only 19 members of the House voted for the idea Thursday, while 78 voted against it.
Among lawmakers' concerns were that people could deduct the donations from their taxes as a charitable contribution.
Amedee wanted the donated money to flow to the state "rainy day" fund and to pay down retirement system debt and state borrowing debt.
Lawmakers are meeting in a special session called by Gov. John Bel Edwards to stabilize Louisiana's finances and close a hefty gap in the budget.