Some Republicans question if there is a a $600M shortfall in the budget

Some House Republicans, wary of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ budget figures and reluctant to raise more taxes, are questioning whether the state truly has a $600 million shortfall, with one legislator estimating the shortfall could be up to half that figure.
House Appropriations Committee chairman Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, believes Edwards’ spending targets -- nearly $9 billion in spending -- are too high.
His objections illustrate a rift between Edwards administration and House Republicans over the budget process. Henry said many of his colleagues are done voting for tax increases this year -- placing a burden on the special session Edwards said he will call in June to plug a $600 million budget shortfall.
Edwards has not yet announced what he will allow lawmakers to take up in another special session but said he will rely on a task force studying the tax code to determine policy in line with a budget overhaul expected in 2017.  
But Henry said that $600 million deficit is not the law of the land -- it comes from agencies’ “targeted amounts” he said Edwards obliged in his budget recommendations. He suggested some of those agencies could do with less.
For instance, the Department of Health and Hospitals’ budget has grown by $200 million in state spending since last year.
DHH Spokesman Robert Johannessen said the Bobby Jindal administration left $262 million in payments to be rolled over to this year. When taking that out of the equation, Johannessen said the budget takes a $62 million cut.
Henry, who carries the budget through the legislative process, said agencies like DHH have to be vetted properly to determine whether they can function with less. The “targeted amounts” that DHH and other agencies have requested should be examined, he added, and shouldn’t be blindly funded to their full amounts.
Henry said in an interview: “We’re setting a precedent that every year going forward under the Edwards administration that if we don’t fund agencies to the exact amount they want then we’ll call a special session and fund them. That’s absurd.”
Edwards’ spokesman, Richard Carbo, rebutted the idea the $600 million shortfall is off. He said the Revenue Estimating Conference, which decides how much money the state has at any given time, doesn’t “throw out numbers” that are inaccurate.
On the spending side, Carbo added the administration has worked with agencies to find out how much in cuts they can absorb -- something he said Jindal’s administration didn’t do.
Henry warned that Edwards will have trouble getting the votes for tax increases in another special session. Tax increases require 70 votes in the House.
“Most members I’ve talked to have voted for all the (tax increases) they’re going to vote for this year,” he said.
Legislators in the February special session raised more than $1 billion in revenue with much of it coming from an increase in the sales tax.
Carbo said there will be an “appetite” among legislators to fix the budget deficit if they want to fund the priorities they have laid out.
But Henry said the state can wait until the fall, realize more revenues and call a special session if necessary to get started on structural issues with the budget.
“At the end of the day, could it be a little bit less than $600 million? I’m certainly hoping so,” said House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia. “That would be good news.”
Barras indicated that more Republicans may support Edwards’ special session agenda if the items addressed the budget structure and not just revenue-raising. He’s “hopeful” the Legislature can find enough efficiencies in the budget to prevent another special session.
Rep. Blake Miguez, a freshman Republican from Erath, opposes a special session in June. He supports funding TOPS now and waiting to fund DHH until the fall.
Miguez, who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee on General Government, agreed many agencies can bear more cuts, and the Legislature can do a better job of finding “efficiencies” in those areas. He also believes the real budget deficit could be as low as $300 million once those efficiencies are found.
“I won’t be held hostage with the TOPS program,” said Miguez, who received the scholarship in college in the ‘90s. “The middle class won’t be held hostage with TOPS.”
Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Baton Rouge, also called a June special session “premature.” But he said he would be open to taking “low-hanging fruit,” like tax credits, if it’s done by way of good tax policy.
In the first special session, Ivey said, “we had a hole in the boat, and we just bought a bigger bucket.”