Legislators defy House leader and governor and passes a compromise state budget
16th May 2016 · 0 Comments
By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer
In a dramatic, late-night showdown that stretched past 9 p.m. on May 12, the Louisiana House of Representatives defied both Gov. John Bel Edwards and the leader of his conservative GOP opposition Rep. Cameron Henry. The unusually close 49-43 vote split the majority-Republican caucus, some claim thanks to the intervention of the Louisiana League of Women Voters.
Under the Amended House Bill 1, the TOPS program will see cuts of $72 million, rather than the $183 million reduction Edwards had sought. The Governor’s budget would have reduced the number of eligible scholarships from 51,000 to just 17,400. Henry might not have achieved his goal of fully funding the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, but the House Appropriations Committee Chairman did enjoy another victory in the late hours of last Thursday evening.
Governor’s budget had defunded four rural public-private partnership hospitals. Henry had fought to keep their doors open by diverting money from the five urban hospitals attached to State University Medical Schools. The Edwards Administration feared a 30% reduction to the urban teaching hospitals would be catastrophic. “None of the money is enough that they would be able to sustain their residency programs,” DHH Secretary Dr. Rebekah Gee complained.
A majority of House members responded by boosting the total funding for all nine hospitals, including the University Medical Centers, at TOPS’ expense. However, the cuts to the scholarship program amounted to less than the Governor sought, allowing Henry to enjoy a net win in his fiscal battle with the Edwards Administration. The Republican caucus, though, rejected the House Appropriations Committee Chairman’s attempt to save money for TOPS (over Edwards’ objections) by defunding the State Inspector General’s Office. Fellow Jefferson Parish GOP Rep. Julie Stokes justified restoring the $1.6 million to HB-1, “If we stand for good government, as we claim to, [keeping the Inspector General] isn’t even a question.”
Conversely, Henry’s effort to create a separate budget for the Attorney General’s office did succeed earlier in the day. Just before 3 pm Thursday, the House defied Gov. Edwards, ‘ring fencing’ the monies to fund Jeff Landry’s office outside the control of the Executive Branch. The Governor called the move “politically motivated” and added, “[A] power grab, such as this, only serves as a distraction at a critical time.”
The Appropriations Committee Chairman uttered a similar criticism of the Governor’s effort to defund four rural “safety-net” hospitals upon which the poor depend. On the House floor on Thursday, Henry claimed the Administration engaged in a cynical effort to force a tax increase vote in the planned post June 6 special session to prevent their closure. “They chose to pick programs that are sensitive to people.”
Ultimately, the four med centers were funded, though thanks to the TOPS cuts, at a much higher rate than Henry had sought. The fact that neither the leader of House conservatives nor the Governor got his way in the House could be credited to an organization often not considered a major player in Baton Rouge—the Louisiana League of Women voters.
In an interview with The Louisiana Weekly, LWVLA Heath Care Spokesman Linda Hawkins said, “Rep. Henry’s [original] bill would have funded those hospitals at too low a rate for them to actually survive…What he was doing was cutting health care to fully fund a scholarship program.”
Hawkins reiterated her organization’s support for fully funding Higher Education, but not at the expense of the Department of Health and Hospitals. Moreover, she and LWV championed the survival of the IG’s Office, noting that turning oversight power of state government to the Attorney General would prove insufficient. Who would examine the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse in the AG’s office, she wondered. “This is not hypothetical,” Hawkins emphasized.
“I’m from St. Tammany where something just like this occurred,” referring to the criminal revelations emerging from the Office of long-time District Attorney Walter Reed. Who watches the watchers?
The Inspector General will continue to do so, and the State House approved a greater level of funding for the five rural Hospitals in large part due to the lobbying of swing GOP Representatives by her Louisiana League of Women Voters.
While the League tends eschew day-to-day political debates, early last week the organization blasted Henry’s revisions to Governor Edwards’ budget. When Hawkins was prohibited from sharing these objections at an Appropriations Committee meeting on Monday, though, the LWVLA went on a massive lobbying effort across the state to fight Henry’s amended House Bill 1.
Henry and his allies argued that the IG duplicated investigatory power already funded under the Attorney General, and no one but John Bel Edwards thought it fair to fund hospitals in New Orleans and Shreveport to the tune of 97% and then completely eliminate the budget of a medical center in Houma or Alexandria. And the availability of TOPS scholarships, he maintained, were a sacred promise made to the Louisiana electorate.
League of Women Voter of Louisiana President Joyce Corrington countered that Henry himself had triggered her organization’s fevered efforts to defeat his original HB-1. “On Monday, May 9, the House Committee on Appropriations met to consider HB-1, the budget bill for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Governor John Bel Edwards had recommended a budget, while warning that it fell $600 million short of fully funding state services.”
“But the Appropriations Committee, chaired by Chairman Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, significantly amended the bill…to fully fund (TOPS) by shifting $180 million of budgeted funds from other areas, including the Department of Health and Hospitals. Chairman Henry said he thought Gov. Edwards’ budget placed too much emphasis on health care funding at the expense of higher education.
“LWV of Louisiana Healthcare Committee chair Linda Hawkins was present and wanted to present testimony against these changes in the budget bill, but no public comment was allowed, no cards of support or opposition were read…LWV of Louisiana oppose[d] these amendments and supports Gov. Edwards’ call for a Special Session to follow the regular session so that more consideration can be given to finding the additional revenue needed to fund state services.”
Edwards’ answer is to drastically raise $600 million in taxes in June (though the Governor has ruled out another sales tax hike). Allies of Henry note that the Chairman’s job pits the responsibility to come up with a budget constructed from current revenues estimates, since constitutionally, taxes cannot be raised in a Regular Session. Earlier Thursday, the Revenue Estimating Conference had confirmed the accuracy of the $600 million shortfall. Moreover, the closing hospitals in poor areas and funding hospitals in cities is not a fair trade, regardless of the impact to residency programs, hence the $79 million compromise in the House late Thursday evening.
According to sources, the massive statewide media campaign over the last week by LWVLA helped swing at least seven GOP votes —possibly more—bringing about partial defeat of Henry’s budget. HB-1 now advances to the State Senate.
The Louisiana Weekly’s full interview with LWVLA’s Linda Hawkins can be heard at http://www.wrno.com/media/podcast-the-founders-show-founders/.
This article originally published in the May 16, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
