State Treasurer John Kennedy says the Jindal Administration is considering selling the Louisiana Lottery as a way to help plug the state’s massive budget hole. Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols says they have never entertained this option. Michelle Southern reports…:
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LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab’s 2015 Louisiana Survey shows more Louisianians feel the state is heading in the right direction. Eric Gill reports…
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State Treasurer John Kennedy says the Jindal Administration is considering selling the Louisiana Lottery as a way to help plug the state’s massive budget hole. The Administration is denying this. But Kennedy says he knows for a fact that it’s being actively studied…:
Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols has issued a statement regarding the Louisiana State Lottery: “We are not considering selling the lottery. Periodically, firms pitch revenue-generating ideas to the state and a lottery bond sale has been pitched several times over the past few years. However, we have never entertained this option and are not considering it this year. “
Kennedy says getting rid of the state’s Lottery would be a bad idea because it would only be non-recurring revenue we wouldn’t have next year which would add to the problem. He says he hopes this comes to light before the legislative session is over…:
The comments were made on the Jim Engster Show. Kennedy says he has reports from CitiGroup and Goldman Sachs which essentially say that selling the Louisiana Lottery would provide significant general fund relief. He says these documents are irrefutable evidence that these discussions are ongoing…:
CUT 5 (11) “sale of your lottery”
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The Jindal administration’s budget for next fiscal year does not fund a presidential preference primary for Louisiana in 2016. Secretary of State Tom Schedler says he was assured that elections would be covered by the state through the spring of next year. He says when his office looked at the budget, he found that there was no money for the primary…
Schedler says budget cuts to his office will force him to close a voter outreach program, limit most state museums to one day weeks, and not hold elections in the first half of 2016. He says, by law, he has to conduct elections unless instructed otherwise…
A presidential primary election would cost the state approximately $3.5 million. In a statement, the Jindal administrations says Schedler should find other ways to balance his budget and fund the primary. Schedler says he’s told legislators that unless they command differently, the state will move forward with the primary…
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LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab’s 2015 Louisiana Survey shows more Louisianians feel the state is heading in the right direction. The survey indicates that 44-percent of residents feel Louisiana is moving forward, up from 38-percent two years ago. Director Michael Henderson says this year’s survey has bucked the trend…
The survey shows that education and the economy continue to be most important problem facing the state. Henderson says 26-percent of Louisianians say the state business climate is better than it was a year ago…
cut 10 (10) “things are going”
Public confidence in state government to effectively deal with the most pressing issues has increased for the first time in five years. But legislators are facing a huge budget crisis heading into the legislative session and Henderson thinks there could be another shift as the session unfolds…
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State Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret tells lawmakers it’s time to reign in the state’s film tax credit program. Moret says the state’s film program has created an estimated ten-thousand jobs and brought positive attention to the state, but it only produces 20-cents in revenue for every dollar of tax credit….
cut 12 (09) “state priorities”
Moret also suggests tighter controls on who is getting the tax credits as there have been recent reports of fraud in the program. But he says the most important thing is limiting the program’s benefits so the state has a greater control of how much they are spending on it
Legislation is expected to be filed soon that addresses the money spent on film tax credits. Covington Representative John Schroder told Moret in the House Appropriations Committee that he favors a cap on spending for the film tax program…
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