Louisiana
Services for people with disabilities could be eliminated under Landry budget plan • Louisiana Illuminator
Programs for medically vulnerable children, seniors and people with disabilities could be eliminated next year as a result of Louisiana’s looming budget deficit, officials with Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration said Friday.
Louisiana Health Secretary Michael Harrington laid out services he might be forced to cut if the governor and lawmakers reduce the state health care budget by $105.1 million to deal with a financial gap in the next fiscal year. He’s been told to expect a large cut as the state tries to figure out how it will cope with an automatic tax reductions scheduled for mid-2025.
Harrington said that $105.1 million cut to state health care services would balloon to an overall loss of $332.4 million with resulting federal funding reductions. The state would no longer be able to put up the money needed to draw down more dollars from the federal government for health care services.
Given the size of the cut the state health department anticipates, Harrington said there are few options for absorbing the budget reduction that don’t involve eliminating programs considered crucial for seniors, children or people with disabilities.
“Any of these kinds of cuts is going to naturally impact the most vulnerable,” Harrington said at a Louisiana House budget hearing Friday. “That’s what we [the health department] do. We take care of seniors and children.”
More than 90% of Louisiana’s $19.9 billion health care budget is spent on Medicaid programs, which pays for health care for people who are pregnant, low-income or disabled, according to Harrington. The bulk of that money, 71%, comes from the federal government, but the state is required to contribute funds in order to receive the federal support.
If forced to make a $105.1 million reduction, Harrington said the Landry administration would eliminate pediatric day care centers ($26.4 million) for families with medically fragile children. Money for a program that helps children with behavioral challenges, called the coordinated system of care, would also be reduced by $5.9 million.
The state would also scrap its Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly ($20.4 million), known as PACE, that assists older people so they can continue to live at home instead of going into nursing homes. Money for daytime supervision for seniors and adults with disabilities who cannot take care of themselves would also be lost ($9.1 million).
Transportation reimbursements for people with disabilities would also be scrapped ($1.8 million). Funding for medical residents who train to be doctors in Louisiana would also be reduced ($23.1 million).
Caregivers who help adults with disabilities and intellectual challenges would also see their reimbursement rates lowered again. Most of these rates have only been raised in the past couple of years after program directors long complained they weren’t able to hire staff at the low wages the state previously provided.
The state budget deficit plan also calls for reducing supplemental payments to hospitals for treating Medicaid patients by $69.4 million and eliminating an expected increase in funding for nursing homes that would have cost $67.8 million.
Republicans and Democratic lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee said they would be unwilling to make such cuts.
Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, described the plan as inhumane, and Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, said families would be unable to care for their loved ones without these programs.
“These are people that depend on us for their life,” Bagley said.
Other legislators questioned whether health officials under Landry, a Republican, had looked deep enough at its nearly $20 billion budget to find alternative ways to save money. Many of the programs put on the chopping block were also proposed for elimination when Landry’s predecessor, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, faced a budget deficit eight years ago.
Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, said the health department has never fully accounted for the hundreds of thousands of people removed from Medicaid following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that the program has significantly fewer people in it, the health agency should have some spare money in its budget that could be used to keep these programs whole, he said.
Bacala also alleged the health department ended fiscal year 2023-24 in June with $75 million in leftover state funding, which means some of that money should be available to cover the $105.1 million cut.
“You continue to say we need more money to cover 300,000 less people [in the Medicaid program],” Bacala said.
Louisiana is facing a budget deficit of $587 million next year largely because of a planned cut to the state sales tax from 4.45% to 4%. State lawmakers could avoid major budget reductions if they voted to keep the sales tax rate at the current level, but legislative leaders have said the conservative anti-tax Louisiana House of Representatives is unlikely to do so.
Lawmakers are more likely to look at expanding the sales tax to new items and services as well as eliminating other tax exemptions to make up some of the revenue. Louisiana Revenue Secretary Richard Nelson has proposed a tax on streaming services such as Netflix as well as services like auto detailing for the first time.
If the Legislature chooses to keep a 2% tax on business utilities that is supposed to expire July 1, 2025, it would also generate $220 million and lessen the deficit. Moving $320 million the state generates through a vehicle sales tax from transportation projects into health care services, higher education and other programs could also help close the budget gap.
Demand for more Midwest data centers skyrockets
What are data centers and why are they needed?
Louisiana has finalized details on another $10 billion data center, this one from Hut 8 in West Feliciana Parish.,
Hut 8, which develops and operates an integrated portfolio of power, digital infrastructure and compute assets, said more than 1,000 construction workers will be on site of its River Bend artificial intelligence (AI) data center campus at its peak.
Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company whose flagship chatbot is Claude, has signed a long-term deal to use the facility, Hut 8 and the state announced Dec. 17.
“It’s a transformational and generational project for our parish and region,” West Feliciana Parish President Kenny Havard said in an interview with USA Today Network. “The possibilities really are endless.”
The official announcement and details come after months of preparation from the parish government and its partnership with the state for the data center on which construction has been underway for months.
It’s the second $10 billion plus data center announced in Louisiana during the past two years. Meta’s massive data center project is under way in northeastern Louisiana’s Richland Parish. Meta originally announced a $10 billion investment but has since increased that scope to at least $25 billion.
“Hut 8’s investment in River Bend builds on our track record of attracting global-scale projects in the industries of the future,” Gov. Jeff Landry said in a statement. “As the campus grows, it will further cement Louisiana’s position as a national leader in energy and innovation, creating thousands of jobs and reaffirming our ability to compete and win on the global stage.”
Construction is scheduled to be complete in the second quarter of 2027.
“River Bend demonstrates that Louisiana’s economic strategy is taking our state from plans to progress,” Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois said in a statement. “This project will generate high-wage jobs and create pathways for Louisianans to build long-term careers in the industries of the future. It’s a clear example of how aligning policy, partnership and people translates into lasting opportunity.”
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
Dec. 16 (UPI) — A suspect identified as Micah James Legnon has been arrested by agents from the FBI’s New Iberia office for allegedly planning an attack on federal agents.
Legnon, 29, was a member of the Turtle Island Liberation Front and had communicated with four members who were charged with allegedly planning a series of New Year’s Eve terrorist attacks in the Greater Los Angeles area on Monday, WDSU reported.
He is a resident of New Iberia and was arrested on Friday while driving to New Orleans after FBI agents saw him loading a military-style rifle and body armor into his vehicle and telling others in a Signal chat group that he was traveling to New Orleans.
New Iberia is located about 120 miles west of New Orleans, and Legnon allegedly shared a video that showed multiple firearms, gas canisters and body armor before leaving on Friday.
In that post, Legnon said he was “On my way to NOLA now, be there in about two hours,” but the FBI arrested him while driving east on U.S. Highway 90, according to WWL-TV.
In a Dec. 4 post, Legnon shared a Facebook post showing Customs and Border Protection agents arresting someone and said he wanted to “recreate Waco, Texas,” on the federal officers while referencing the 1993 federal siege on the Branch Davidians compound there.
He is a former Marine who was trained in combat and a self-professed satanist who used the alias “Black Witch” in group chats with four suspects accused of targeting locations throughout California.
Federal prosecutors filed a federal complaint against Legnon and asked the magistrate judge to seal it and related records due to an ongoing investigation.
They asked that it be unsealed on Tuesday, which is a day after the four suspects accused of planning the California terror attacks were charged with related crimes.
The FBI said Legnon had been communicating with the four suspects in California before the arrests were made and charges filed in the respective cases.
The Turtle Island Liberation Front is a far-left, anti-government, anti-capitalist and pro-Palestinian group, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — The Louisiana Department of Education announced Tuesday it was awarded $15 million to lead a study on the increasing impact of high-dosage tutoring.
The grant came from the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research program. State education leaders said the money will fund a five-year study to expand the impact of high-dosage literacy tutoring for students in grades 1-2 who are below grade level in reading.
“Louisiana has shown what’s possible when states are trusted to lead,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley. “We are grateful to the U.S. Department of Education for their confidence in our strategy and for investing in a Louisiana-designed solution to accelerate student literacy.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said making literacy outcomes stronger throughout the nation is one of her top priorities.
“Every dollar from this year’s EIR awards will support the use and expansion of evidence-based literacy instruction, expand education choice, and empower grant recipients to build and sustain high-quality literacy support systems for students. This is a huge opportunity for states to lead, and they are rising to the occasion,” she said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, who joined McMahon in an August education roundtable in Baton Rouge, celebrated the funding. “Strong literacy skills are the foundation for everything that comes next in school and in life,” he said. “Louisiana has shown real progress, and this funding helps take what’s working and expand it so more students can succeed.”
Schools with low literacy proficiency rates will be prioritized. Air Reading, Studyyville, Johns Hopkins University and Louisiana higher education institutions will be key partnerships in the project.
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