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Billion Dollar Decrease in Proposed Budget

Gov. Bobby Jindal invited the press to the Governor's Mansion for a brief preview of his budget, which will be unveiled in full Friday morning before the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

The budget totals $24.7 billion. The governor says that's a billion dollar decrease from last year.

The Dept. of Health and Hospitals will see a cut of about $50 million because of a drop in federal funds. Jindal says the budget for higher education will see reductions because of the privatization of some of LSU’s hospitals, but not in other areas.

Jindal says other reductions are made up of small cuts here and there.

“We do call for consolidation of some legal services, some financial services, IT services," Jindal said. "Not things our consumers – our constituents – our taxpayers would see, but would make the state government more efficient.”

The governor says the budget continues with plans to fund the voucher program through the same mechanism that funds elementary and secondary schools, despite that the method has been declared unconstitutional and is under appeal.

Kelly grew up in Baton Rouge. She started out in radio at Baton Rouge High where she was first on air at WBRH and KBRH. While studying film and politics at Hendrix College, she reported and hosted for KUAR in Little Rock, AR. She then moved on to KUT in Austin, TX. She misses the dry air, live music at Studio 1A and breakfast tacos, but is happy for crawfish and non-ironic use of Mardi Gras beads.