BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Concerns about next year's budget continued to pour in Wednesday to the House Appropriations Committee, which took a second day of testimony from the public about Gov. Bobby Jindal's spending proposals. Robert Aguilar, a board member for the Louisiana Assistive Technology Access Network, or LATAN, asked lawmakers to provide money for the program that...
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Concerns about next year's budget continued to pour in Wednesday to the House Appropriations Committee, which took a second day of testimony from the public about Gov. Bobby Jindal's spending proposals. Robert Aguilar, a board member for the Louisiana Assistive Technology Access Network, or LATAN, asked lawmakers to provide money for the program that works with disabled people to find technology that can help them work, study or cope with daily life.
Food banks sought money for their assistance programs.
Charles Castille, a former health department administrator representing the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition, said a proposal to shrink $24 million in payments to the rural hospitals for uninsured care could force some facilities to close.
"The impact would be devastating," he told the Appropriations Committee.
Jill Kidder, co-executive director of the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association, asked lawmakers to stop using dollars in the lieutenant governor's office that are supposed to pay for tourism marketing to instead cover the state's costs of hosting events like the Essence Festival, the Special Olympics and the Independence Bowl.
She said the dollars should be used for advertising, to attract visitors -- and their tax dollars -- to the state.
"Louisiana is a strong draw, but people go where advertising takes them," Kidder said.
The Appropriations Committee is deciding how to craft the 2013-14 budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and will make changes to Jindal's proposal (House Bill 1) before sending the budget to the full House for debate.
