BATON ROUGE — Gov. John Bel Edwards’ plan to close a more than $300 million budget deficit left from last year includes cuts to colleges, health programs and several state agencies.
More than $152 million in payments to health providers who care for Medicaid patients will be pushed into the next budget year to save money, and other available financing will be used to fill gaps.
Net cuts to state financing for agencies equal $43 million and include:
$18.2 million to higher education systems
$12 million to the Department of Health
$3.1 million to the Executive Department (which includes the governor’s office and the governor’s Division of Administration)
$2.7 million to Public Safety Services (which includes the Louisiana State Police and Office of Motor Vehicles)
$2.5 million to the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
$2.2 million to the Department of Education
$799,000 to the Department of Children and Family Services
$377,000 to the Department of Veterans Affairs
$134,000 to the Department of Civil Service