With the Louisiana Radio Network Legislative Report, I’m Matt Doyle.
Lawmakers are in the early days of the session, nailing down an early working budget, and for the first time it looks like there won’t be a massive budget deficit for leaders to tackle. Governor John Bel Edwards celebrated the change of pace.
Cut 12 (10) “…chopping block”
Now that budget woes have faded into the background, the Governor is pivoting to an old campaign promise, raising the minimum wage. He got some good news on that front today, as The latest release from the 2019 Louisiana Survey shows 81% of respondents support raising the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour, and 59% back a raise to 15 an hour, from the current rate of $7.25. Director of LSU’s Public Policy Research Center Dr. Mike Henderson.
Cut 6 (08) “…that minimum wage.”
Edwards is backing a constitutional amendment to raise the minimum to 9 dollars an hour.
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Another major legislative priority for seemingly all lawmakers this year is finding the cash to get teachers a 1,000 dollar pay raise, and Kevin Barnhart has new numbers from the Louisiana Survey that show it’s not just legislators who are hoping to see educators get that increase….
Cut 1 (31) “I’m Kevin Barnhart.”
The Department of Children and Family Services says they need a 13 million dollar funding increase over last year to meet their budget needs, or the food stamps program could be shut down. The House budget being worked on currently does not include any funding increase for DCFS.