Louisiana

The Louisiana Legislature has significant leeway on when it has to reimburse the state’s rainy-day fund, under a ruling last week from Judge Kay Bates in favor of the state.

Adding toll lanes to the proposals for upgrading portions of U.S. 90 to Interstate standards in the Lafayette area could provide up to half of the financing, according to a new traffic study.

A Louisiana panel studying the tolls on twin state-toll bridges across the Mississippi River in New Orleans has cautioned against removing the fees.

DALLAS — Louisiana lawmakers learned Friday that the state could face a gap between spending and revenue next year totaling $895 million.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission approved $11 million of taxable revenue bonds for a high school military academy in New Orleans at its monthly meeting Thursday.

It’s time to get serious about completing Interstate 49 South in Louisiana, and a public-private partnership might be part of the financial solution to the $5.2 billion effort, Treasurer John Kennedy said last week in Lafayette.

More people moved into Louisiana over the last two years than moved out, the U.S. Census said last week in a report on population patterns, marking a positive growth trend after more than 20 years of outflow.

The Louisiana Department of Revenue this week said that collections in the first four months of fiscal 2012 totaled $2.36 billion, up $96 million from the same period in fiscal 2011.

The trustees of the Caddo Parish Parishwide School District are scheduled to vote Jan. 17 on whether to call an April 21 election on a $133.8 million general obligation bond plan.

Louisiana Attorney General James Caldwell filed a federal suit last week in the District of Columbia to overturn a change in offshore oil royalty rules that could require the state to repay royalties and cut its anticipated future royalties.

The New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board last week adopted a capital improvement plan that calls for more than $3 billion of projects through 2021.

Louisiana’s chief legislative economist, Greg Albrecht, told the Baton Rouge Press Club this week that more revenue problems could lie ahead.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal issued an executive order Dec. 16 to reduce general fund spending by $251 million through fiscal 2012.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency last week awarded more than $52 million of new funding to New Orleans to repair neighborhood streets in areas of the city most severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The New Orleans City Council last week adopted a $496.7 million operating budget for 2012 that keeps the city’s property tax rate unchanged despite an increase in assessed valuations this year.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will be sworn in for a second four-year term Jan. 9 at an inauguration he said would be smaller than the first one.

The trustees of the West Feliciana Parish School Board will consider a plan next month to call a property tax renewal election in April 2012.

DALLAS - The Louisiana State Bond Commission gave its approval Thursday to a plan by New Orleans to avoid a budget shortfall in 2012 with a $16.5 million refunding.

Louisiana's entire congressional delegation and the Mississippi treasurer are urging the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to issue guidance allowing Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds to be issued after the year ends to refund previously issued GO Zone bonds on a tax-exempt basis.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday it would send another $390 million of hazard mitigation funds to Louisiana parishes most affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.