Rather than load up the proposal like in previous years, a Louisiana House of Representatives panel agreed Thursday to a bare-bones construction budget for next year with only a handful of new projects.
The House Ways and Means Committee agreed to Gov. Bobby Jindal's recommendations: The bill should mostly include projects approved in past years that already are in line for borrowing, and projects that have direct streams of cash funding, like road and bridge repairs.
The state is overcommitted to state construction spending after former Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration pushed ahead with agreements on a $1.5 billion list of projects that expect state funding over the next few years.
Jindal said the state should pay for the existing commitments before adding projects to the list.
Louisiana has a cap on annual borrowing that will limit spending on construction projects to an estimated $350 million in the upcoming 2008-09 fiscal year that begins July 1 -- money that mainly will cover ongoing projects and items given lines of credit in previous years.
A slice of $20 million in the borrowing was set aside by the Jindal administration for new projects, and the House committee quickly added $9.2 million worth. Each lawmaker got $250,000 for projects in their districts.
Among those projects were improvements to the city of Shreveport's golf course in Lakeside; improvements to a sewer district near Bossier Parish Community College, a sugar cane festival building in Iberia Parish, a new volunteer fire department in East Baton Rouge Parish and an arts center in Jefferson Parish.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
