Committee action, Apr. 28: SB 199

DID YOU KNOW?
SB 199 would raise the maximum amount that could be held by the Budget Stabilization Fund to seven rather than four percent of revenues. Sen. Nick Gautreaux said this bill was a prudent measure to enable the state to bank more money. It would not impact spending on current services since it kicks in only during flush times, and it was entirely voluntary in most instances whether to put money into it.

Sen. Lydia Jackson wondered why he didn’t change the trigger figures to access the fund, that the budget would be “destabilized” unless the threshold to access funds was made easier. She wanted the bill to lay over for more information. He said that didn’t change the facts of the bill and could live with that but if they wanted to kill the bill, through deferral, they could.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Michot said if there was some greater benefit such as getting a better bond rating, he could go along with it, but nobody knew how the increase would affect that. Sen. Mike Walsworth suggested comparisons with other states to see what their level was, and to defer it until then.

Gautreaux and the committee went along with that without objection.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Let’s just face facts, and end it now … I didn’t move to defer.
Gautreaux, implying a temporary deferral would in reality be permanent and to stop the pretense, but when Michot suggested Gautreaux had move for that, he corrected him.