The Louisiana legislature wrapped up its work for the year by passing the state’s operating budget in the final minutes of the session.
The final version of the bill was brought up to both chambers with just moments left in the session.
Republican leadership in the House and Senate had different plans on how to spend a $2 billion state surplus. There was confusion about what did and did not end up in the bills that were finally released with 30 minutes left in the session. Included in the bill was a $2,000 teacher pay raise and a $1,000 pay raise for support staff. But it is temporary and BESE will have to approve it next year to be made permanent.
There was a last minute reduction of $100 million to the Department of Health and it is not clear what programs will be impacted by that change. The governor said he and LDH were not consulted on those changes.
