Louisiana Speaker of the House Calls for Continued Cooperation on Budget

BATON ROUGE - The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget met today to receive the Governor's Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2013-14.  The budget handed to the committee totals $24.7 billion, down from $25.5 billion last year, a reduction of nearly $1 billion.

During the meeting, Speaker of the House Chuck Kleckley said there was a lot of work ahead and spoke directly to administration staff, calling on them to work closely with the legislature and the House Appropriations Committee.

"It is important for us to have the funds bill and any other bills which balance the proposed budget from the administration in advance.  Hearings will begin in early March in the House of Representatives and it is important that we have the ability to look at the whole picture." Kleckley said.

"The presentations given today and discussions that have taken place continue to keep me cautiously optimistic that we have bottomed out and look forward to working with the administration and members of the legislature to pass a budget that is responsible to the hardworking taxpayers of Louisiana."

The 2013 Regular Legislative Session will convene at noon on Monday, April 8, 2013, and will adjourn no later than 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, 2013.