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The Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) board will vote this Thursday on whether to approve a $300 million request to partially fund the rebuilding of charity hospital in New Orleans. The LRA should recommend that the Legislature only grant the Office of Facility Planning and Control enough for land acquisition and planning fees – roughly $70 […]
Calling a special legislative session immediately after additional and surplus revenues are officially recognized next week is a bad idea. There is no compelling reason to hastily spend the nearly $2 billion expected to be estimated – except to generate political support with promises of pay raises, rebate checks and tax cuts. The governor should […]
Louisiana stumbled across the finish line last week to complete the first phase of a long journey toward a better health care system. Now that the initial outline for reform of the New Orleans region has been submitted to federal officials by the Oct. 20 deadline, the Louisiana Health Care Redesign Collaborative should exercise the […]
Plans are currently being developed to spend a large state budget surplus from last year. Some estimates predict the surplus amount, which will be finalized in December, will reach $800 million. Elected officials are circulating proposals to spend some of the surplus to issue property insurance rebate checks. That would circumvent current constitutional limitations on […]
Missed opportunity characterizes the 2006 Regular Legislative Session. At the outset, hopes were high that the state might finally be forced to reinvent and redesign some of its outmoded and inefficient policies and institutions. But, in nearly every function of state government, the legislature passed over the rare chance for meaningful debate and successful reform. […]
A bill to protect the nursing home industry from certain types of budget cuts is nearing final passage this week. SB 613 would set in law the formula used to determine Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes, limiting the state’s options for cutting payments when budget reductions are necessary. Current budgeting flexibility should be maintained, […]
Increasing the oversight and transparency of state spending in response to the massive influx of federal aid has proven to be a formidable task for the Governor. As the state embarked upon its recovery from the hurricanes of 2005, the administration promised two key tools: independent accounting auditors and a Web site to report federal […]