Senate committee adds more projects to overloaded construction budget
by Ed Anderson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- A Senate committee added its share of pet projects to the state's $4.1 billion capital construction bill Monday, and sent it to the Senate Finance Committee for more debate, and possibly more changes. Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, chairman of the Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, said that his panel added more than $230 million in projects after House members added about $130 million a few weeks ago. House Bill 2 by Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, is now about $110 million over the $350 million limit for new and continuing projects the state finances each year, Riser said.