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.