The Louisiana Legislature has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to infrastructure projects and to maintain teacher pay in the state budget plan that takes effect July 1. Lawmakers also backed Gov. Jeff Landry’s tough-on-crime agenda with money for adult prisons and juvenile justice. services and an expansion of the state police. Landry has about three weeks to veto parts of the state budget he doesn’t like. Lawmakers are unlikely to challenge him if he does so, as veto overrides are rare in Louisiana.
Here’s a rundown of where lawmakers committed state money:
K-12 teachers, school support staff
Teachers will receive a one-time payment of $2,000 and school support staff will receive a $1,000 stipend next school year. The total cost of the stipend is $199 million.
Lawmakers decided against a permanent increase because they said the state will face a large deficit next year. The expected budget shortfall could mean that teachers and other school staff could lose their stipend and possibly see their salaries cut.
In addition to the stipends, lawmakers allocated $17.5 million for differential pay, allowing school districts to pay more money to teachers in hard-to-fill positions. Officials have said it has been difficult to find educators for special education, science and math, as well as in schools with large numbers of low-income students.
Repair of roads and bridges.
The state is spending $390 million on repairs to existing roads and bridges. Lawmakers say the funds are for “shovel-ready” construction and will not be used for planning or design purposes.
The money for these transportation needs comes from $717 million that lawmakers withdrew from a state savings account.
Reduction of places in early childhood education
Lawmakers reduced funding for early childhood education by $9 million from the current year. Advocates said this will reduce the number of spots in the program by 800 spots. In recent years, state lawmakers have typically provided enough funding for 16,000 seats a year. In an interview, House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, questioned whether babies and toddlers benefit from early education. He said he agreed that such programs could help 3- and 4-year-olds, but he wasn’t sure the state needed to spend money on infants and toddlers.
Prisons and juvenile jails
In keeping with the governor’s focus on fighting crime, lawmakers agreed to make a significant investment in youth prisons and jails. They took about $100 million out of a state savings account to improve state and local facilities that house incarcerated youth. Specific facilities receiving funds will be announced later this year.
Local law enforcement officials will also receive $1.2 million more to hold incarcerated teens. Its daily reimbursement rate for juvenile detention is increasing, although the exact amount is not provided in state budget documents. In addition to those raises, the state Office of Juvenile Justice is receiving $11.3 million to pay for a private security detail and $5.8 million to hire 70 more people to work at the Swanson Center for Juvenile Prison in the Monroe area . Lawmakers also allocated $1.9 million to truancy programs across the state.
Pay increases for state police, wildlife agents and judges
Three main groups of state employees will see increases in their salaries. Lawmakers agreed to increase salaries for state police ($9 million) and Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents ($4 million). State police patrol personnel will also see a pay increase for working “abnormal hours” from 50 cents to $5 more per hour, costing the state $3.3 million.
All judges, from the Louisiana Supreme Court to municipal courts, will be allowed to use their own funds for a one-year salary stipend, provided they agree to complete an independent study of the workload of judges throughout the system state judicial.
Roof fortifications
Lawmakers allocated $15 million more to a roof fortification program for homeowners started last year. Louisiana residents can apply for grants to help improve their roofs and hopefully lower their home insurance rates. The program was expected to help 2,500 households last year with $25 million, according to budget documents.
Criminal justice in New Orleans
Lawmakers agreed to continue funding one of the governor’s top priorities: new public safety initiatives in New Orleans. They allocated $10 million to staff a new state police troop in New Orleans, known as Troop NOLA. Attorney General Liz Murrill will also receive $5 million to assist with the prosecution of criminal cases in New Orleans, including those handled by Troop NOLA.
Additionally, lawmakers allocated $7.4 million for improvements and additional staffing for crime labs across the state.
Higher education deferred maintenance
Lawmakers pulled $94.3 million from a state savings account to pay for maintenance projects at Louisiana’s public colleges and universities, which are $2 billion behind in infrastructure deficits. The governor and lawmakers also allocated $41.7 million to various higher education initiatives. This includes incentives for Pennington Biomedical faculty ($3 million), Grambling State University’s athletic program ($700,000), and University of Louisiana-Monroe building improvements ($50,000).
Landry’s cabinet increases
Gov. Jeff Landry gave pay raises to 11 of his 14 Cabinet members, effective July 1. He recommended that six receive at least $20,000 more in compensation than his immediate predecessors.
The biggest pay increase went to Tyler Gray, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, who previously led one of the state’s largest oil and gas lobbying organizations. His annual salary will go from $139,734 to $200,000, an increase of more than $60,000.
Water and Sewer System Upgrades
Lawmakers took $75 million from a state savings account to continue improving local water and sewer systems across the state. This comes on the heels of lawmakers spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the same types of projects in 2022 and 2023.
Domestic violence shelters
Lawmakers restored $7 million for domestic violence shelters after Landry initially eliminated those programs from his budget proposal earlier this year.
The money will add shelter beds in harder-to-reach parts of the state and supplement existing children’s programs.
Governor’s Public Records Attorneys
The governor’s office will receive an additional $1 million to hire three attorneys to handle public records requests. Landry has complained that his staff is inundated with requests for government documents. In addition to the extra money, lawmakers passed two bills that limit what information about the governor’s office can be given to the public. The first allows the governor to deny further records requests when the information is considered a security risk. The second requires that people requesting information from the governor’s office be Louisiana residents.
Mentoring programs
Lawmakers are funding a few different tutoring programs for public school students over the next year. They allocated $30 million to high-dose tutoring, aimed at students with academic delays.
The Steve Carter Education Program, which addresses basic literacy and mathematics, received $7.5 million. An additional $2 million will go to fund internships and apprenticeships for public school students.
Nursing homes
Landry increased funding for the state’s 270 nursing homes by $34.5 million in the state budget this year.
Nursing homes have state constitutional protections that make it difficult to reduce their funding. The state also requires that its per-bed Medicaid reimbursement rates increase regularly, even if overall health care services face cuts or come to a standstill.
Home health workers
Night home health care workers who assist people with disabilities and their families will receive a pay increase from $13 to $18 per hour. The state will contribute $10 million to withdraw $31 million in federal funds.
The Medicaid rate given to care facilities that provide 24-hour care for people with disabilities will also increase, costing the state $5 million that will take $10.6 million from the federal government. The state will also spend $13 million to provide 40 more therapeutic programs. spaces for children in foster care.
Favorite projects
Lawmakers allocated $92.7 million to projects benefiting local government services and nonprofit organizations in their home districts that would not normally receive state funding. In the past, these have included golf courses, etiquette organizations, Catholic churches, and local Knights of Columbus chapters. They allocated the money even though the state may have to recoup $103.5 million in pet project spending from previous years because the organizations receiving the money would not say how they spent it.
An additional $165 million for pet projects from previous years sits in state bank accounts because organizations and local governments have not submitted initial paperwork allowing the state to release them.
summer feeding program
Lawmakers earmarked $4 million for a summer child feeding program that could take more than $70 million from the federal government and bring food to hundreds of thousands of children. The Landry administration initially declined to participate in the federal initiative, which increases food assistance. Low-income families receive $10 per child per week in June and July. The allocation increases to account for the fact that children are not in school and do not benefit from government breakfast and lunch programs. Although the governor initially did not join the summer food program, lawmakers insisted that the state participate. They said the money would benefit Louisiana children and lead to increased spending at local grocery stores.
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