A Louisiana House committee advanced a resolution Monday to raise the state’s spending cap by $250 million for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and $1.4 billion for the following fiscal year. The spending cap dictates how much of the state's $2.2 billion surplus lawmaker can spend.
After consistent opposition from the House this session, a spending limit increase now seems more likely, though the total increases are less than the amounts proposed by the Senate.
The House Appropriations Committee approved the resolution with a 21-3 vote after adopting an amendment from Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Winnfield, that lowered the increases from the original amounts of $500 million for this year and $1.8 billion next year.
The resolution will likely be heard on the House floor Wednesday. Both chambers must pass the proposal with a two-thirds vote, which could still be a difficult task in the House where lawmakers have consistently opposed any increase in the spending limit this session.
Several lawmakers have expressed concerns about a boom-bust cycle of revenue in the state. Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, pointed to the years under former Gov. Bobby Jindal. He said lawmakers spent funds “like drunken sailors” on one-time expenses and were left with a huge deficit a few years later that forced them to make cuts. House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, acknowledged those concerns.
“Those were some of the most miserable years we had,” he said.
Still, Schexnayder said he now supports an increase in the spending limit, saying it is the right thing for the Legislature to do and will help lead to a budget that makes everyone happy.
Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, has strongly supported breaching the spending limit to fund one-time expenses like infrastructure and transportation projects. The Senate gave unanimous approval to his proposal to bust the cap last month.
The Senate Finance Committee released its version of the state budget Saturday, which increases the spending limit and ties it to large amounts of funding for transportation projects, like an initiative to reconstruct the I-10 Calcasieu River bridge. The full Senate unanimously approved that budget Monday afternoon.
The resolution put forth by the House Appropriations Committee on Monday lowered the Senate-approved spending cap increases by a total of $650 million, meaning some items in the Senate’s budget plan would likely be cut if the resolution is approved.
The Senate also added a direct $2,000 teacher pay raise and $1,000 raise for support workers in the budget. Those raises are not contingent on a spending cap increase and were added to the budget through the Minimum Foundation Program, a formula used to appropriate funds to school districts that is approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Those raises fail to meet Gov. John Bel Edwards goal to push Louisiana teacher salaries to the southern regional average. He wanted a $3,000 teacher pay raise for all K-12 teachers.
Additionally, the Senate added $14 million for early childhood education back to the budget, but that still falls significantly short of the $52 million Gov. Edwards wants.
The House will likely hear the spending resolution Wednesday, and the Senate will have to reconsider it now that the budget has a new amendment. Both chambers must come to a budget agreement before the end of session Thursday evening.
