In Louisiana’s $27 billion budget, what’s a $293 cut?

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Louisiana state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, watching Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, move a resolution through the Finance Committee on Feb. 14, 2017, complained that broad-brush approaches to cutting spending do not shrink government or make it more efficient. Photo by Sarah Gamard.

By Sarah Gamard

Budget reductions large and small hit a number of state agencies during the Louisiana Legislature’s nine-day special session that ended Wednesday (Feb. 22). Lawmakers erased the $304 million midyear deficit, in a $27 billion annual operating budget, by having some offices “contribute” millions of dollars to the cause.

Most of the cuts were accompanied by the grinding of clenched teeth. Then there was the $293 cut to the Department of Transportation and Development’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Fund.

Read the story at NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune

 

State rep. wants to make recalls easier

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Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler speaks with aides following the House and Government Affairs Committee meeting Monday. Photo by William Taylor Potter.

By William Taylor Porter

BATON ROUGE — After witnessing a “charged public” fail to trigger a recall election in St. Tammany Parish, Paul Hollis wants to make it easier for recall petitions to succeed in Louisiana’s more populated voting districts.

And he is in a position to do something about it.

Read the story in The Advertiser

Louisiana Senate to consider Troy Brown’s expulsion or suspension on Monday

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State Sen. Troy Brown and his attorney, Jill Craft, appear before the Louisiana Senate’s Select Committee on Discipline and Expulsion this morning. Photo by William Taylor Potter. 

By William Taylor Potter

The Louisiana Senate’s Select Committee on Discipline and Expulsion denied several requests from Baton Rouge attorney Jill Craft, who is representing Sen. Troy Brown, D-Napoleonville, as it deliberates, via differing resolutions, Brown’s expulsion for a pair of domestic violence misdemeanors.

Read the story in the bestofneworleans.com/Gambit