La. Lawmakers Challenging Gov. Bobby Jindal Over State Budget

A group of conservative lawmakers in the Louisiana House is asking Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell to give his opinion on whether certain appropriations in the state budget are unconstitutional.

Jefferson Parish state representative Kirk Talbot says he believes the state budget is unconstitutional for multiple reasons:

The budget spends one-time money on recurring expenses which runs afoul of the Constitution, the budget contains contingencies and we are cheating the revenue estimating committee forecast. In our opinion, if we are passing budgets that are out-of-balanced, that aren't funded properly, maybe that's contributing to some of the financial problems we're having with our state right now.

Caldwell has not decided on whether he'll review the budget. Talbot says if Caldwell decides to review the budget, he'll find Louisiana is violating the law by how it funds certain items:

When you read the Constitution, and you look at some of the things in the budget, I don't think you need a law degree to look at that and say something's not right here.

A Jindal spokesperson says the budget is constitutional as it doesn't spend more dollars than the state takes in.