Senators Delay On Crafting State Spending Plans

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Senators are having trouble working out a final version of their plans to spend the $284 million raised in the special legislative session.

The Senate Finance Committee planned a Tuesday meeting to craft its version of the bill to plug the money into next year's budget. But after delaying the meeting twice, the committee hearing was canceled entirely and rescheduled for Wednesday.

Committee Chairman Eric LaFleur said the House version of the budget bill contained $27 million more than the state has money available, double-counting savings from the state's Medicaid expansion that had already been used.

In addition, LaFleur says committee members were concerned about making sure the medical schools received enough money to protect graduate medical education.

The special session must end Thursday.

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