Louisiana House lawmakers voted 85-19 on Wednesday to bust the state’s spending cap by $1.65 billion over the next 13 months. The vote, which was significantly above the required two-thirds vote, resolves a key part of session-long budget negotiations.
Hours later, the Senate unanimously approved the House changes that lowered the increase from an original $2.3 billion over the next 13 months.
Senate leadership has consistently supported raising the expenditure limit, arguing it is necessary to help fund one-time expenses like infrastructure and transportation projects. Many of those projects could lose federal funding if the state does not use surplus dollars to supplement them before 2026, Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, has said.
The Senate unanimously supported Cortez’ resolution to exceed the expenditure limit.
House lawmakers have not been as keen this session to raise the limit. They have expressed concerns about a future deficit that could force lawmakers to cut funding in health care and higher education, which are not constitutionally protected pieces of the budget.
Wednesday’s vote came after the Senate unanimously passed its version of the budget earlier this week, which ties funding for several roads, bridges and other projects to an increase in the spending limit.
That contention put pressure on House lawmakers to compromise, and the House Appropriations Committee advanced a resolution to bust the cap on Monday — though they lowered the Senate-approved increases by $650 million. That is the version the Legislature passed Wednesday.
The expenditure limit is a constitutionally-imposed cap that dictates how much of the state’s $2.2 billion surplus lawmakers can spend. Most of it is required to go into savings like the rainy day fund, which is at its highest point in state history of about $900 million.
Proponents of a spending cap increase have said the state is in a rare position to use those dollars on infrastructure and transportation projects that need more money. Cortez has said there are at least $13 billion backlogged in transportation projects and about $1.8 billion in deferred maintenance at universities.
“Don’t put money in a savings account while you have maintenance issues in your buildings,” Cortez said of his resolution during a committee hearing earlier this session.
Still, some House lawmakers remain hesitant about busting the cap.
“For the past 100 years, we’ve been governing for today and ignoring the future. Look where that has got us at the federal level and the state level,” Rep. Larry Frieman, R- Abita Springs, said on the House floor Wednesday. He was referring to large amounts of accumulated debt.
Frieman pointed to previous spending decisions that left the state facing a deficit and led to budget cuts and raised taxes. Facing a fiscal cliff, the Legislature agreed to a 0.45% temporary sales tax increase in 2018. That temporary sales tax is set to expire in 2025 and could leave up to a $900 million hole in state revenue.
“What hospitals will you decide get less money, or God forbid, have to close?” he asked. “Do you want to raise taxes?”
Lawmakers from both chambers are still in negotiations about the overall budget. The Senate made hundreds of changes to the budget advanced by the House.
Lawmakers from both chambers must meet on a conference committee before the end of the day tomorrow to iron out any differences. Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said House lawmakers still need to review several of the changes but are working to get more money back in the budget to pay down state debt.
A $2,000 teacher pay raise and $1,000 raise for support workers are set in the budget. Zeringue also said they are planning to include a lump of money for differential teacher pay, which would allow school districts to further increase salaries of teachers in hard-to-fill positions like science, math and special education.
Gov. John Bel Edwards advocated for a $3,000 pay raise for all K-12 teachers to push Louisiana teacher salaries to the southern regional average. But even with differential pay, it appears the state will fall short of that goal.
Edwards’ has also called on lawmakers to invest $52 million in early childhood education. The House did not include that money in its version of the budget, but the Senate allocated $14 million for early childhood education in its budget plan.
That is still significantly lower than the $52 million Edwards wants and could leave thousands of young children without access to early childhood education, according to the Louisiana Budget Project. Early childhood education in Louisiana is currently supported by temporary federal funding that ends this year.
Early childhood education funding is another likely area of discussion for lawmakers on the budget conference committee. It is unclear whether they will adjust the $14 million.
Lawmakers must pass a resolved budget before the end of session on Thursday at 6 p.m.
