State Representative Mike Danahay is pretty sure that the upcoming legislative session will focus on three things: the budget, the budget, and the budget.
Danahy spoke to the Sulphur Rotary Club during their weekly lunch meeting on Wednesday.
"As you've probably read or heard, we will be facing a multibillion dollar deficit this year," Danahay said.
According to Danahay, the Governor's Office has proposed a $24 billion budget for the upcoming legislative session, and the appropriations committee is already looking over it.
Much has already been said in the media about the budgetary shortfall that the state will have to deal with in the upcoming year. Danahay said that one of the reasons for that shortfall is that a number of budgetary holes have been plugged with federal dollars from both hurricane recovery funds and President Obama's stimulus package, which will be going away this year.
"In 2005, the year of the hurricanes, the state budget was $19 billion. Within about three years, the budget went up to $30 billion," Danahay said.
"We expanded our government real quick," he said.
This year, legislators will have to start 'ratcheting that back,' according to Danahay. He said last year higher education caught the brunt of the budget cuts, and that this year health care will see the largest reduction measures.
A part of this reason is that the per capita income of Louisiana is artificially raised due to insurance monies brought in from the hurricanes. The higher per capita income classification will result in a reduction of federal funds coming in from Medicaid.
"Washington is not very sympathetic," Danahay said.
"It's not going to be very nice this year" for physicians and hospitals in Louisiana, he said.
Louisiana's 2010 legislative session begins at noon on March 29.
Sulphur, La. —
