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Analysis: Lawmakers load Louisiana budget with pet projects
By MELINDA DESLATTEMay 30, 2021 GMT
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 legislative leaders in closed-door negotiations.
The budget sent to Gov. John Bel Edwards for the financial year that begins July 1 contains at least $49 million in earmarks for local parks, museums, cities and towns, athletic complexes, nonprofit agencies and parish roadwork. Another $27 million-plus in unspent tax collections from the current budget year also were steered to similar add-ons.
“There were more resources” this year, said Senate President Page Cortez, a Lafayette Republican. “We were able to put more money into some of the needs and wants that are out there.”