House budget falls $163M short

BATON ROUGE – Louisiana’s state senators have started digging into the details of the House version of next year’s budget, with holes mainly in the public health care budget that provides services for the poor and uninsured.

Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols, the governor’s chief budget adviser, says the House-approved budget for next year has $155 million in identified gaps. Also, she says $8 million in shortfalls need to be closed before the current fiscal year end June 30.

Nichols spoke Monday to the Senate Finance Committee.

After Gov. Bobby Jindal introduced his budget proposal, the House passed tax changes and used patchwork money to stop deep cuts to colleges and fill some health shortages next year.

Most remaining gaps are in the health department, LSU hospital privatization deals and LSU medical schools.