1012 Corridor

Louisiana state government is at a crossroads. We can decide to take the traditional path of least resistance, cobbling together a solution to the state’s budget crunch to get us by in hopes our fiscal situation will somehow dramatically improve, or we can venture down a different path in search of a new way to operate state government, with an eye to making state government less costly to taxpayers and more efficient. The time has come to take the path less traveled.

I am not talking about embarking on this journey for a mere philosophical discussion of what state government should be about in Louisiana. I am talking about a need for action based on cold hard facts! The facts are that in the 2010-2011 state fiscal year, we are facing a budget shortfall totaling $1 billion. The budget gap grows to nearly $2 billion the following year. Unlike the federal government, the Louisiana Constitution requires that we adopt a balanced budget. We cannot deficit spend.

The cloudy state budget picture is due to a number of factors. But the real question is not how we got to where we are, but, where are we going?

The Louisiana Commission on Streamlining Government, which I chair, is charged with the responsibility of trying to answer that question and to make recommendations to the governor and the Legislature on how we deal with the looming budget shortfalls. Gov. Jindal has asked the commission to identify at least $802 million in savings for the coming budget year, and by mid-November the commission had identified an estimated $300 million in savings.

Our goal is to reduce the cost of government and to improve the delivery of state government services. We are looking at elimination and consolidation of programs; privatization and outsourcing certain governmental functions; reforming the state’s Civil Service system; better use of technology for the delivery of services; and more. One specific recommendation calls for state government for the next two budget years to increase productivity by 2% each year, reducing state spending by a corresponding amount and saving taxpayers $145 million a year. The bottom line is this journey down the path less traveled is about setting priorities.

If we are to move Louisiana forward, we must provide a climate for our communities, our businesses, our families to grow. We cannot do that if we don’t have our governmental house in order. We cannot do that by simply asking taxpayers to ante up more. We must decide what our top priorities are and maximize the use of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to support those efforts. We, as a state, must be very focused on our priorities and programs ... although worthwhile, those which do not produce a specific benefit in relation to our priorities must be eliminated.

We are going to have to cut state spending. We should and must have an intelligent, fact-based approach to those budget reductions. The work of the Streamlining Commission begins those discussions. It will be our responsibility as legislators in the 2010 Regular Session to move those discussions to the next level and act. Our journey must not end in a dead end. We have an obligation as elected officials to make sure that does not happen. The citizens of our great state deserve no less.

Louisiana Sen. Jack Donahue represents Louisiana’s 11th District and is the chairman of DonahueFavret Contractors.