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Browsing entries categorized as Budget
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Committee questions community services
The economic slowdown is forcing state health officials to pull back on increases in the number of people with developmental disabilities who receive community services. Lawmakers made it clear at a Friday meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget that they are unhappy with any delays. Read more… -
Legislators visit Angola
Sarah Chacko/Advocate staff photo
Angola inmate Sidney Deloch, who is serving a life sentence for rape, tells legislators that Louisiana’s strict sentencing laws do not take into account people who can be rehabilitated. Deloch has become a minister at Angola.
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Lawmakers visit prison
Sarah Chacko/Advocate staff photo
Angola State Prison warden Burl Cain, left, explains to WBRZ-TV reporter Mike Steele, center, and state Rep. Mert Smiley Jr., right, why using bunk beds in dorms to cut costs will not work long term. Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 at Angola State Penetentiary.
Angola’s warden Burl Cain told a group of state legislators Friday that he has cut $12 million from his budget by double-bunking inmates, replacing some guards with cameras, and cutting overtime for the 24-7 operation of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Read more… -
Contracts now online
Louisiana Division of Administration/
Billions of taxpayers’ dollars spent on state government contracts can now be viewed online thanks to Friday’s launch of new data online. LaTrac, the online Louisiana Transparency and Accountability Portal, that launched in November 2008, now has a state con-tracts component added. The online contracts feature may be accessed though the main LaTrac Web site at www.latrac.la.gov or directly at www.latrac.la.gov/contracts.
How billions of state dollars are spent on current contracts can now be found online.
The new information on existing state government services contracts is an addition to LaTrac, the Louisiana Transparency and Accountability Portal, that launched in November 2008.
The online addition launch came the same week that members of the state’s Commission on Streamlining Government argued the state has far too many contracts and does not make them transparent.
“We’re not hiding contracts,” said state Commissioner of Administration Angèle Davis. “We have always pushed for transparency.”
The new online contracts feature allows users to search contracts by categories or to view all contracts and sort them according to government agency, contractor name, contract type or contract amount. Details of the contract can then be viewed by clicking on the row of a given contract.
“Increased transparency, as you know, leads to increased accountability, which leads to a better use of taxpayers’ dollars,” said Davis, who is Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief budget officer. “We know we have to reduce government spending … Every dollar for every expenditure should be evaluated.
“There’s over 4.3 million citizen auditors out there,” Davis said Friday, referring to the state’s population.
The Web site will be updated each month, she said. Last month, LaTrac had about 15,000 online hits.
California, Georgia and Texas are the only other states to offer contract data online, according to the division.
Streamlining commission member and state Treasurer John Kennedy sparked a new study of contracts by questioning some of the money the state Department of Education is spending on consultants.
He accused the department of paying people to give speeches.
Streamlining commission member Leonal Hardman then, earlier this week, accused state officials of hiding how much money they spend on contracts with private firms.
While spending on state government contracts is listed at $4.7 billion per year, Davis said $1.6 billion of it actually is cooperative endeavors and interagency transfers. Much of the rest is spent on state employees’ medical and retirement benefits, she said.
The state also is updating its “outdated and antiquated” contract procurement process, Davis said.
She said the online contracts addition has been about six months in the making.
The online database is the result of an executive order and a state law sponsored by Jindal. LaTrac allows people to track how state agencies are spending taxpayers’ dollars, from the contracts they sign to salaries of appointed state agency officials.
The online contracts feature may be accessed though the main LaTrac Web site at www.latrac.la.gov or directly at www.latrac.la.gov/contracts.
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Commission wants handle on contracts
A member of a cost-cutting group accused state leaders Wednesday of hiding govern-ment contracts from the Com-mission on Streamlining Government. Read more… -
Commission panel suggests public school money follow the student
The state is paying twice for the education of students who go into the juvenile justice system, state officials said Wednesday. When a student is moved from a school and sent to a juvenile detention center, the state aid allocated to that student’s school district does not immediately change, Erwin said. And the juvenile justice system pays for the education it provides to that student at its facility with state general funds. Read more… -
Streamlining Commission votes on recommendations
Bill Feig/The Advocate
The White Castle ferry is one of four ferries recommended for closure by a state com-mission looking for ways to cut costs in state government.
A group set up to devise ways to cut costs in state government recommended Tuesday closing ferries, trimming Medicaid expenses and privatizing the laundry work at juvenile prisons. The Commission on Streamlining Government is tasked with helping state officials grapple with a $3 billion state budget shortfall over the next two years. Read more… -
Tax amnesty brings in more than expected
Patrick Dennis/The Advocate
Gov. Bobby Jindal discusses on Wednesday at the State Capitol the collections for the 2009 Louisiana Tax Amnesty Program and he comments on the state’s reaffirmation to give $30 million toward LSU’s planned Business Education Complex while LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business Dean Eli Jones, left, and Phelps Dunbar law firm partner Richard Matheny, right, look on.
A tax amnesty program generated twice as much money as state officials expected. Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Wednesday morning that delinquent taxpayers paid $303.7 million. The program was expected to result in $150 million in collections. The $150 million is to go to repay funds that helped government balance its annual budget that began July 1. Jindal said he wants to use part of the unexpected money for health care, which is facing a massive budget shortfall. Read more… -
State government pay plan vote delayed
Arthur D. Lauck/The Advocate
State Civil Service Commission members James Smith, left, and Lee Griffin confer Wednesday at the conclusion of a public hearing concerning new classified state employee rules covering pay raises. The commission postponed action on the proposal until December.
The Civil Service Commission delayed action Wednesday morning on a proposal that would end 4 percent annual pay raises for nearly 61,000 classified state government employees. Commission Chairman James Smith and other commissioners said they wanted to give state employees more of an opportunity to comment on the changes “drastically” effect their pay. The seven-member panel, which sets policy for state government workers, decided to set a Dec. 8th public hearing at night, when most employees are not working. Smith said commissioners would likely vote on the proposal on Dec. 9. Read more…Posted in: Politics, Budget, State Employees
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Kennedy wants to tackle NGOs
Patrick Dennis/The Advocate
Council for A Better Louisiana President Barry Erwin, right, and State Treasurer John Kennedy during a meeting Tuesday of the Commission on Streamlining Government in which funding for non-governmental organizations was discussed.
State Treasurer John Kennedy pushed Tuesday morning to purge legislators’ special projects from the state budget. But other members of the Commission on Streamlining Government balked at the idea of cutting off funding for what are referred to in state government as nongovernmental organizations — or NGOs. Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis said eliminating NGOs would affect water systems, battered women shelters, councils on aging and volunteer fire departments. Read more…
