LFT President Steve Monaghan speaks on behalf of the Better Choices for a Better Louisiana coalition.
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Baton Rouge – November 18, 2010) A new coalition of concerned organizations today urged Governor Bobby Jindal and the legislature to take a balanced approach to meeting Louisiana’s short-term and long-term needs, rather than continuing a cuts-only strategy that will cost jobs and hurt the economy.
The Better Choices for a Better Louisiana coalition comprises a growing number of business, faith, labor, health, education, community, and consumer groups throughout the state that favor a balanced approach that includes revenue to maintain crucial services and invest in Louisiana’s future.
At a press conference prior to tomorrow’s meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, Coalition members said the cuts-only approach that Louisiana’s elected officials have taken to the economic crisis is seriously compromising services that Louisianans rely on, and is leading toward a decline in the state’s quality of life. That in turn hurts state efforts to attract new industry and residents.
Speaker Edward Ashworth, director of the Louisiana Budget Project, diagnosed the problem with Louisiana’s fiscal crisis.
“State government is no longer generating sufficient revenues to provide the services that Louisiana families need to grow and prosper,” Ashworth said.” Continuing the current strategy of relying exclusively on spending cuts to balance the state’s budget risks inflicting long-term damage to vital state institutions and programs that are the future of our state. Having a poorer, sicker workforce, a decaying infrastructure, and a hollowed-out education system is not the way to economic prosperity.”
Speaking for the Better Choices for a Better Louisiana coalition, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan presented a broad-based set of principles aimed at creating a balanced and transparent approach to dealing with Louisiana’s financial crisis. While the national recession played a part in creating Louisiana’s crisis, he said, choices made by state leaders in the past few years have made the situation worse.
“Our state cannot continue to rely on cuts alone to balance the budget,” Monaghan said. “Better Choices for a Better Louisiana calls on our leaders to take a balanced approach that includes responsible revenue measures coupled with common sense savings.
“We are united in recognizing the state has responsibilities that cannot be ignored any longer,” Monaghan said. “We cannot solve our crisis solely through short-sighted cuts to services needed by Louisiana’s working families.”
Leonal Hardman, president of AFSCME Council 17, said that the state’s budget choices in recent years have been detrimental to the health care provided to Louisiana citizens.
“Since 2009,” Hardman said, “Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospital’s budget has been cut by more than $250 million. More Medicaid cuts are coming soon.
“These cuts mean that fewer doctors are willing to take on Medicaid patients. These cuts limit the access that thousands of patients have to primary and specialty care. They mean that some patients may not get the hospital and emergency services that they need.”
What’s worse, Hardman said, is that cutting state funding for health care reduces the amount of federal matching money that Louisiana receives. Each dollar cut by Louisiana can mean four dollars lost from the federal government.
A retired teacher, coach and school administrator, Wendell Mack, spoke about the harm done to education, from kindergarten through college, by budget cuts.
“Every governor in my lifetime has said that education is the key to a better future,” said Mack. “Every member of the Senate and House of Representatives says that education is the engine that will drive our economy to prosperity. But for the past few years, when it comes time to make hard choices, all they seem to be able to do is cut.
“If education really is the key to a better future,” Mack said, “we need our governor and legislature to make better choices, and find the money it takes to educate our children.”
The coalition plans to bring two policy recommendations to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.
One, the legislature should put a moratorium on further tax breaks — such as business subsidies, abatements and deductions — until the state’s revenue crisis has subsided. The Louisiana Budget Project has reported that the state gives up more than $7 billion a year in these tax expenditures.
Two, committees of the state House and Senate should review the goals and purposes of various tax breaks to determine whether their costs are justified or they are in fact hurting the state’s economic development.
“In recent years, the legislature has adopted hundreds of costly tax breaks,” said Monaghan. “We need to ensure that state revenues needed for crucial investments like education, health care, and infrastructure are not being diverted to special interest giveaways that may have outlived their usefulness”
Last spring, the legislature adopted House Concurrent Resolution 187 by Rep. Michael Jackson, which requested the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee examine state tax expenditures. Monaghan said Better Choices for a Better Louisiana is urging lawmakers to heed the resolution.