BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration has pushed back to mid-February the release of its proposal to close a $103 million budget deficit.
Jindal administration spokeswoman Meghan Parrish said Thursday that the proposal to rebalance this year’s $25 billion budget will be presented to lawmakers at a Feb. 20 hearing for their consideration.
A day earlier, the Republican governor had said lawmakers would receive the deficit-closing plan this week for a planned Feb. 6 hearing.
Parrish said the administration is “incorporating some new ideas” into the proposal and it would take more time to work out all the details. She wouldn’t provide specifics about the changes and whether they could lessen cuts.
The midyear deficit stems from falling oil prices. The gap must be closed before the fiscal year ends June 30.