Edward waves budget axe over LSUE, higher education

Gov. John Bel Edwards said LSU Eunice will close by April 30 if legislators fail to act on his plan to fix the state’s deficit-ridden budget.
And, there will be no LSU football season, he said.
Cuts to higher education and health care were put on the table by Edwards in special address to the state Thursday.
Legislators begin a three-week special session today with a focus on the state’s budget.
“As I sit here with you tonight, we now have a more than $940 million budget deficit for this current fiscal year, ending June 30. In the year that starts July 1, we are facing a $2 billion budget deficit,” Edwards said prepared remarks.
Edwards termed it a “...a historic fiscal crisis, the likes of which our state has never seen and absolute candor is required.”
At heart of the governor’s plan is a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax, reducing tax credits, and suspending corporate tax deductions. The sales tax increase is to a bridge on the way to stabile and restructure the state’s tax code, he said.
An increase in alcohol and cigarette taxes is proposed.
But for freshman state Rep. Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, he wants the focus to be on cutting expenses before any tax increases are considered.
“Everything needs to be put on the table and it needs to be fair across the board,” DeVillier said.
DeVillier said the governor’s address had a scare factor to force people to get behind his plan. 
I” find it interesting how when John Bel stated when he was running two months ago that education had been cut enough and that’s the first thing they are saying they want to cut.”
DeVillier said state government needs structural changes to solve its recurring budget problems.
Edwards said the state has a $940 million budget deficit in the fiscal year that ends June 30. The next fiscal year, starting on July 1, has a $2 billion budget deficit.
“And because the Louisiana Constitution does not allow us to fix either of these budget deficits in the regular legislative session this year, we have just three weeks, starting this Sunday, to make the changes we need,” he said.
Edwards placed the blame on former Gov. Bobby Jindal, but did not name Jindal.
“While my predecessor inherited a $1 billion dollar surplus when he became governor, I’ve been left with almost a $1 billion deficit for this year alone and a $2 billion deficit next year.
“For seven years in a row, the state has had growing budget deficits. Year after year, the previous administration made temporary fixes using one-time funds to patch recurring expenses, knowing that eventually the well would run dry. And it has,” he said.
The Revenue Estimating Conference estimates the state is $570 million short of revenue for the year. Oil prices, sales tax and corporate tax collections are down,.
There is $370 million in commitments made that the state does not have the money for, he said.
Edwards said, “Our health care system is on the verge of imploding. The Department of Health and Hospitals is already facing severe cuts. And without new revenue, those cuts will be catastrophic. With larger cuts looming next year, safety net hospitals will close, starting in places like Lake Charles, Alexandria and Bogalusa.”
As part of Edwards’ plan tapped into the TOPS fund.
“The Louisiana TOPS scholarship fund is now so depleted that, if the legislature does not raise revenue, fewer high school students will receive awards and current recipients are in jeopardy of losing their existing scholarships for next year.
“Even with additional revenue, higher education this year will need to cut $42 million. This will be combined with a $28 million cut in TOPS scholarship funds that the universities will have to absorb, resulting in the largest mid-year cut in Louisiana history,” Edward said.
Edwards said if no new revenue is raised in the next four months, “catastrophic” cuts will occur.
“And that comes on the heels of the largest disinvestment in higher education in the nation over the last eight years,” he said.
Edwards said if the Legislature fails to act “... the LSU Ag Center and parish extension offices in every parish, and Pennington Biomedical Research Center will close by April 1st and the LSU main campus in Baton Rouge will run out of money after April 30th, as will the Health Sciences Center in Shreveport and LSU Eunice. There is no money left for payroll after those dates. The Southern University System, and University of Louisiana System, and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System are in the same boat: without legislators approving new revenue this special session, some campuses will be forced to declare financial bankruptcy, which would include massive layoffs and the cancellation of classes.”
Students at the universities would receive a grade of incomplete, many would not graduate “... and student athletes across the state at those schools will be ineligible to play next semester. That means you can say farewell to college football next fall.”
The technical and community college system is already preparing to lay off 1,200 employees, he said.
The Edwards plan include a hiring freeze across state government, a reduction of state contracts, $160 million cut in state spending, using $128 million from the state’s rainy day fund and $200 million from non-coastal BP payments.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reported that Republican State Treasurer John Kennedy, who gave the GOP response carried by a Baton Rouge television station, said, “Tonight Gov. Edwards asked Louisianians to embrace the largest tax increase in our state’s history.
Kennedy called the governor “dead wrong” on his approach to fixing seven years of financial mismanagement under former Gov. Bobby Jindal, the Advocate stated.
“We are not one tax increase away from prosperity,” he said.
“What we need to do is simple,” said Kennedy, a U. S. Senate candidate. “We need to lower our costs while still delivering a quality product.”
The Advocate said Kennedy’s remarks were from a prepared text.