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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — With a surprising post-pandemic surge in tax collections, Louisiana lawmakers packed the state’s budget with tens of millions of dollars in pet projects decided by
BATON ROUGE The Louisiana House has overwhelmingly backed a $36.4 billion operating budget for next year, packed with pay raises for teachers, college professors and corrections workers as the state faces few of the financial woes of prior years amid an influx of federal coronavirus aid.
Beyond next year s budget, lawmakers also passed measures to spend about $925 million in one-time federal coronavirus relief on infrastructure projects and aid programs, and divvied up better-than-expected tax collections from the current financial year to disaster recovery, debt payments and lawmakers favored projects.
The budget reflects in these trying times an opportunity to move in the best interest of the state while acknowledging the challenges that we do have, said Appropriations Chairman Jerome Zee Zeringue, the Houma Republican handling the budget in the House.
Louisiana House votes for $36B budget, federal aid spending
By MELINDA DESLATTEMay 6, 2021 GMT
Rep. Jerome Zee Zeringue, R-Houma, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, talks with a legislative staffer during the opening day of the Louisiana legislative session in Baton Rouge, La., Monday, April 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Rep. Jerome Zee Zeringue, R-Houma, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, talks with a legislative staffer during the opening day of the Louisiana legislative session in Baton Rouge, La., Monday, April 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) The Louisiana House on Thursday overwhelmingly backed a $36.4 billion operating budget for next year, packed with pay raises for teachers, college professors and corrections workers as the state faces few of the financial woes of prior years amid an influx of federal coronavirus aid.