House tweaks budget plan, chops economic chief’s pay

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: May 16, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Lawmakers chopped Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret’s pay Thursday but agreed to give school support workers a $1,000 bonus.

The state House of Representatives shaved $220,860 from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s $30 billion proposed state operating budget, reducing the amount of money the governor wants to pay Moret and a deputy secretary in the state spending year that begins July 1.

“Unfortunately, $320,000, I believe, exceeds the limit of what we need to pay someone who works for government,” said state Rep. Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles.

Lawmakers also added spending to House Bill 1 before voting 102-0 to advance the budget legislation to the Senate.

The biggest addition was $48.6 million for school support workers. State Rep. Herbert Dixon, D-Alexandria, garnered the increase after he showed House members a “wall of shame” listing some of the workers’ salaries.

Along with HB1, the House sent the Senate two other important spending bills — House Bill 2, the state construction budget, and House Bill 3, the spending engine for the construction budget.

However, HB1 dominated the day, consuming hours of legislators’ time before they adjourned for the weekend.

“I think it is a document that we can be proud of,” said state Rep. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro and the bill’s sponsor, at the start of the seven-hour debate on HB1.

Earlier in the week, the House Committee on Appropriations cut $120 million from Jindal’s proposed budget.

The deepest cuts were to the Medicaid program that provides health care for the poor and to public colleges and universities.

The committee made the cuts in an effort to rein in the growth of state government.

Despite criticizing former Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s spending record, Jindal proposed a state operating budget that was larger than the plan Blanco originally proposed for the current fiscal year that ends June 30.

The budget funds a number of state services, primarily health care for the poor and public education.