One of the keystones of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed legislation to ease budget cuts to higher education is a scaled-back version of legislation he has twice proposed that would bolster a power he has seldom used.
The proposal, announced last week as part of the governor’s second higher education legislation package, would allow Jindal to cut 10 percent from protected funds to ease budget burdens on higher education.
Currently, many programs throughout the state have dedicated or protected sources of funding.
When budget cuts occur, those programs are spared cuts, which increases cuts to higher education and health care.
Jindal’s second higher education package, announced last week, seeks to address this structural problem.
The first piece of legislation in the package would increase the budget-managing power the governor already has.
The state constitution allows the governor to cut 5 percent from protected programs if the state general fund — where most of the unprotected funds are — is cut by seven-tenths of a percent.
The governor can use this power when lower-than-expected government revenues cause midyear cuts.
Jindal has already had several opportunities to use this power.
In December 2008 and October 2010, for example, he issued executive orders that caused midyear cuts.
Those orders either made cuts to the general fund or passed responsibility for distributing the cuts to legislative committees.
Most recently, Jindal ordered a midyear cut last semester that sliced $5.1 million from the University’s budget and $34.7 million from higher education statewide.
All of the money for that cut came out of the General Fund.
Jindal used the power to cut protected programs once, in January 2009, when he reduced statutory dedications by $22.4 million to fill a midyear gap of $341 million, according to Michael DiResto, director of communications and strategic initiatives with the Division of Administration.
This isn’t the first time Jindal has proposed granting his office more power to cut dedicated funds.
In the 2009 legislative session, Jindal made a rare appearance in front of the Senate Finance Committee, urging legislators to pass Senate Bill 1, which would have granted Jindal the 10 percent power.
The bill failed despite Jindal’s plea.
According to the Legislature’s website, the bill passed the Senate. In the House, however, the bill was funneled into a conference committee, where several legislators added exceptions to the bill, tacking on provisions that would exempt certain programs from the governor’s budgetary scythe.
The bill never made it out of the committee.
Although similar, the 2009 bill — and a similar one that failed in 2010 — would have granted more expansive powers, allowing Jindal to cut both funds protected by the constitution and funds that are merely protected by statute.
The new bill would only give the governor power to cut statutorily dedicated funds, according to DiResto.
It would also exempt dedications that result from agency fees paid to regulatory agencies by businesses.
Statutory protections can be removed more easily than constitutional protections.
The Legislature can overturn a statutory dedication by simply passing a law, which needs only a majority vote.
A constitutional dedication is more difficult, requiring a two-thirds vote and a vote of the people.
Bob Mann, political communication professor and former communications director for then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco, says the 2009 bill’s ill-fated life span is a good indicator of potential political hurdles.
“There are lot of interests that are very interested in keeping their dedications,” he said. “There are a lot of people who have a strong motivation to keep those funds protected.”
Mann said programs that benefit from dedicated funds — and the lobbyists who represent those programs — don’t want to see their protections disappear, so they lobby legislators to fight the bill or make exceptions.
Because many programs receive dedicated funds, many interests are opposed to such legislation.
“[Jindal] is targeting pretty much everything but higher education and health care,” Mann said.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]