BATON ROUGE (AP) — A Senate proposal that appeared to get lawmakers closer to rebalancing this year's budget without deep cuts to colleges and health services has been upended with a $75 million hole blown into it, the chairman of the Senate budget committee said Friday.
At issue is a bill both the House and Senate had relied on to generate money that could plug holes in this year's $25 billion budget.
The measure by Rep. Chris Broadwater, R-Hammond, would change the payment schedule under which businesses turn over sales tax collections to the state. By shifting the calendar, lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards hoped to generate $75 million before the fiscal year ends June 30.
But Senate Finance Chairman Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, said the Legislature's financial analysts took another look at the bill and believe it won't generate the money for this budget year. He said the problem appeared to be with the accounting method for collecting the taxes.
That means a gap senators thought they had whittled to $67 million with legislative action Thursday now may top $140 million.
"All I know is that when they looked at it again, the money would not apply to this fiscal year," LaFleur said. "I'm sure they're going to be looking at it again."
The confusion over the bill adds new difficulties to the tricky political negotiating between the House and the Senate over how to rebalance this year's budget, which had a hole estimated to reach $900 million for this year.
Lawmakers have been negotiating over the mix of tax hikes, budget cuts and short-term financing patches to close the gap. A rebalancing plan unveiled Thursday by the Senate had appeared to drop the shortfall to around $67 million, and senators were hoping the House would agree to raise that much in taxes to fill the remaining hole.
With a $140 million-plus problem, LaFleur said, "We're still within reach, but it was a lot nicer yesterday, because people could see the light at the end of the tunnel."
He said he learned the news from the governor's revenue secretary, Kimberly Robinson, late Thursday night. The Edwards administration and lawmakers were trying to determine Friday if there's a way to rework the bill to restore the financing for this year.
"It may just take an amendment," LaFleur said. "Hopefully, we'll figure out a way."
Edwards spokesman Richard Carbo said the administration was working through the numbers with the Legislature's financial analysts.
But he acknowledged of the bill: "There is a problem with it."
– by AP Reporter Melinda Deslatte
