Louisiana tackling how it’s going to pay for Katrina

BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana lawmakers have just over two weeks to chart their hurricane-ravaged state’s future, from rewriting building codes to weighing tax breaks to changing how employment benefits are calculated, and then answering the big question: how to pay for it all.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the special session starting today for the Legislature to address 77 hurricane-related issues. It has to end by Nov. 22, two days before Thanksgiving.

“Frankly, I think it’s too much to do in 16 days, but we’ll do our best,” Democratic Sen. Butch Gautreaux said.

Looming over the session is the already $971 million hole in the state’s $18.7 billion budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year that runs through June 30.

Blanco reduced that hole by about half on Saturday, cutting $431 million out of the state budget by slashing spending across state agencies.

“State government must work leaner but smarter than ever before,” the Democratic governor said.

Few areas of state government beyond road repair and the military office spearheading hurricane recovery efforts were spared in Blanco’s cuts, with the deepest being a $222 million hit to health care services and a $71 million cut in spending on public colleges.

The Legislature could vote to put all or some of that money back, but the state constitution still requires a balanced budget.