http://news.yahoo.com/louisiana-governor-sell-tobacco-settlement-upfront-cash-180434822.html
should that be vice versa????
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration moved ahead Tuesday with a plan to sell the state's remaining share of a massive tobacco settlement, despite criticism the move would waste a valuable asset for a quick fix to budget problems.
A board that oversees the settlement agreed to the idea, though several more approvals would be needed before any sale. Treasurer John Kennedy objected, saying Jindal's plan is driven by desperation to find money for a budget awash in red ink.
As the Republican governor has stuck to a pledge against raising taxes, Jindal and lawmakers have refused to match the state's spending to its yearly revenue. They have plugged budget holes with short-term financing like money from property sales, legal settlements and trust funds, creating continued shortfalls year after year.
Kennedy, also a Republican, called the tobacco settlement plan more of the same maneuvering, as the state faces a $1.6 billion budget gap next year.
"This is about the last savings account that we have left that we haven't taken money from," Kennedy said of the tobacco settlement. "You never make a financial decision this important when you're under this much financial pressure."
Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols said the Jindal proposal doesn't involve a one-year cash infusion, but $750 million that could be spent over eight years, mainly to pay for Louisiana's free college tuition program, called TOPS.
"You dangle $700 million in front of the Louisiana Legislature now, and it's going to be spent as fast as green grass goes through a goose," the treasurer said.
this TOPS program is not what it represents to be it is now more aimed at the students who could afford a quality education not those let's say in the inner city.
The state sold 60 percent of its settlement to investors for $1.2 billion in 2001, rather than risk tobacco companies going belly-up later and not making their settlement payments. The dollars were placed into a trust fund, with interest earnings used annually to help fund TOPS, along with other health and education programs.
he's the same guy who turned down Medicaid expansion money to buck the Pres. denying healthcare statewide and other republican gov. nationwide. this sounds like a good plan but when it discriminates it becomes a bad one way republican plan. article doesn't mention but what did Jindal do with the money to put the state in perpetual red ink??? isn't it kind of arrogant to budget a republican plan for eight years that assumes they will still be in charge but with the job Jindal is doing that's a toss up.
