House delays budget bill

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jun 21, 2008 - Page: 4A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The House delayed a decision Friday on a $29.9 billion state government spending plan that would boost teacher pay and fund a literacy program.

The budget bill’s author, state Rep. Jim Fannin, said he is unhappy that the Senate reversed many of the House’s spending cuts.

But Fannin said he is leaning toward concurring on the changes.

Fannin, D-Jonesboro, said House Bill 1, the budget legislation, is $30 million lighter than the spending plan Gov. Bobby Jindal originally proposed.

That in itself, he said, is remarkable.

“Am I happy with just 30? No. But go back and look at the last time we took 30 out,” Fannin said.

HB1 and House Bill 2, the state construction budget, are sitting on the House calendar with three days left in the session.

The House slashed the $30.1 billion state operating budget that Jindal submitted for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Lawmakers cut funding for health care and higher education.

The Senate dramatically changed the bill, plumping it back up by injecting money for health care, education and projects in their legislative districts.

Fannin now has two choices. He can move to concur, or agree, with the changes. In the alternative, Fannin also can recommend taking the bill to a conference committee in which a handful of lawmakers would hammer out a resolution.

Before making a final decision, Fannin said he wants to see what the Senate did with the supplemental budget bill.

The Senate voted 36-0 Friday to send the supplemental budget, House Bill 1287, to the House.

Earlier in the week, a Senate committee added millions of dollars to the bill for food banks, Baton Rouge loop planning and an LSU chemistry lab building.