A Message from the President

 

This past Friday, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved a heavily amended House Bill No. 1, the state's budget for next fiscal year. The Bill now advances to the Senate where it will first be considered by the Senate Finance Committee.

 

As you know from my prior campus messages, the budget as originally proposed by the Governor included a number of measures about which we were concerned inasmuch the proposed higher education budget included significant one-time and contingent funding.

 

Although we are still working to analyze and fully understand the numerous amendments made to the budget by the House of Representatives, a number of our concerns appear to be at least partially addressed. While this certainly appears to be a positive development, it is unknown whether the Senate will agree with all of the changes made to the budget by the House. Likewise, there is concern that Governor Jindal may be inclined to veto some of the budget changes which involve additional recurring revenues.

 

The bottom line is that we still have several weeks before we will know with certainty the budget outcome for next year. Prudence dictates that we continue efforts to plan for additional reductions should they occur.

 

I will continue to work with members of our legislative delegation and will keep the campus informed of additional developments.