Published: Apr. 10, 2019
By: James A. Smith, LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE–The group that projects the state’s revenue finally recognized a brighter outlook after months of partisan infighting.
The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference on Wednesday reached the unanimous vote needed to increase this year’s state general fund forecast by $110 million and next year’s forecast by $119 million.
Now that the forecast is approved, lawmakers are tasked with deciding what to do with the extra revenue.
Gov. John Bel Edwards has proposed spending it on a pay raise for teachers and other state programs. But before the new forecast was approved, legislators had begun debating cuts in some programs since they cannot pass a budget that is not balanced.
The legislative session just started Monday. So approval of the new forecast now could make it easier for Democrats and Republicans to agree on a budget with less rancor than has been the case in recent years.
Read more in the Minden Press-Herald.
