Funds seal budget deal- Plan approved as lawmakers get money for districts
by MICHELLE MILLHOLLON - Advocate (excerpt)

In the final hours of the legislative session Monday, the Louisiana House and Senate agreed to spend $30 million on projects important to lawmakers’ districts. The amendments to House Bill 76, called the ancillary budget, were the linchpin in convincing the House to agree to the Senate’s changes to the $26 billion state operating budget for the spending year that starts July 1. At the governor’s urging, the House grudgingly agreed Sunday night to stop pushing for deeper cuts to higher education and public hospitals.

Negotiations over the state’s spending plan stalemated for most of the three months of the regular session that began March 29. The budget — House Bill 1 — was approved late Sunday as was legislation — House Bill 1358 — that balanced the budget for the remaining days of this fiscal year. The House filed 1,493 bills and 509 resolutions, while the Senate filed 808 bills and 340 resolutions. As of Monday night, the Louisiana News Bureau counted 1,065 of the bills and five constitutional amendments were passed by both houses; 340 of the measures already had been become law. The House and the Senate took money set aside for emergencies and artificial reefs, plugging the dollars into HB76, which usually is a minor budget bill that pays for laundry services and other expenses. Millions of dollars now would be spent on the LSU Agricultural Center, museums, festivals, councils on aging, arts programs, water systems, libraries and sidewalks.

State Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, objected to the spending, noting that higher education and health care still are getting cut, albeit much less than the House originally wanted. “This here stinks,” LaFonta said, holding up 47 pages of legislative projects.