Editor’s note: While Gov. Bobby Jindal’s budget includes no general fund cuts to higher education, it is build on several new provisions that require legislative approval. This story is part of a series looking at the largest of those provisions.
One piece of legislation Gov. Bobby Jindal has proposed to fill the state’s $1.6 billion budget gap would move money from other state programs to fund the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students.
Jindal first proposed a constitutional amendment to move money from the Millennium Trust Fund to TOPS on Jan. 19.
TOPS is the state’s wildly popular merit-based scholarship program. The vast majority of University students receive the award.
The Millennium Trust Fund receives money from the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, in which tobacco companies agreed to pay states annual compensation for health costs associated with smoking illnesses.
Louisiana established the MTF to hold and earn interest on the $58 million it receives from the settlement each year.
Jindal’s proposal would cap the fund at $1.38 billion. All extra funds earned from the settlement would be dedicated to TOPS.
Jindal’s administration has estimated this could provide $92 million for TOPS annually.
When it was first unveiled, Jindal couched the proposal as a way to protect the program during tough fiscal times.
“This amendment will be very important to protecting the future of the TOPS program because it constitutionally protects more TOPS dollars,” Jindal said when he released the budget.
Currently, TOPS receives most of its money from the state general fund, which is more vulnerable to cuts.
When the governor’s budget was released, the amendment took on a new role — helping to fill the state’s $1.6 billion budget gap.
Jindal’s budget moves general fund dollars currently allotted to TOPS to programs elsewhere, relying on the amendment to fill in the gap.
That practice has come under some criticism. In the Jan. 28 issue of The Times-Picayune, Edward Ashworth, director of the Louisiana Budget Project, predicted Jindal would use the amendment to fill the budget gap.
“Because he knows that politically he can’t cut TOPS, he would put more of the state budget off limits by raiding the Millennium Trust and dedicating it to TOPS, freeing $40 million of state general funds for use in filling the state’s budget hole,” Ashworth wrote.
Ashworth argued the proposal would add additional protections to state funds, further limiting the already small portion of the budget from which policymakers can cut.
Several legislators also took aim at the proposal when Jindal’s budget was unveiled March 12 to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.
They argued it is irresponsible for the governor to assume passage of certain legislation — especially a constitutional amendment — when proposing a budget.
“I think the budget is unconstitutional,” said Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans. “What happens if [the Legislature] or the people don’t pass this amendment? You won’t have TOPS fully funded.”
Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature and a vote of the people, making them one of the more difficult political hurdles.
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Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@lsureveille.com
Jindal’s budget includes proposed constitutional amendment for TOPS
March 19, 2011