House Okays Spending Bill After $53.6 Million Boost

              Wednesday. Mav 28. 1969 THE SHREVEPORT TIMES
Only $10.7 Million Safe From Veto
House Okays Spending Bill
After $53.6 Million Boost
By EDGAR COLTHARP
Times Capital Bureau
BATON ROUGE — A militant
House finally passed the 1969-70
general appropriation bill Tues-day,
but not before it had added
a total of $53.6 million to the
original administration measure.
The $1,282 billion bill now goes
to the Seriate after staying in the
House for 16 days, the longest1
period in recent legislative histo-ry.
Of the $53.6 million added by
the House, only $10.7 million is
safe from Gov. John McKeithen'*
veto. The other amendments
were deliberately placed in the
bill as line items so the governor
could remove them without dis-urbing
his own spending pro-gram.
Of the "safe" funds, $6 million
is to restore to Louisiana State
University and the state colleges
the 6.3 per cent budget cut made
by McKeithen.
The other $4.7 million is for
elementary and secondary teach-er
salaries. The extra funds will
not permit implementation of the
new teacher pay scale, but are
for additional instructors needed
due to rising enrollments.
The House also tacked on an
amendment specifying that dis-tribution
of funds from the
Department of Education to local
school boards shall be made on a
basis of projected 1969-70 enroll-ments
rather than this year's
pupil count.
This will have the effect of
favoring school districts in rapid-ly
developing urban areas.
To Restore Cut
The amendment to restore the
6.3 per cent cut to the colleges
sparked the session's hotest
fight. The proposal passed the
first time around, 54-33, after
administration leaders accused
its author, Rep. James Dennis of
Monroe, of "playing politics with
higher education."
Some 10 minutes after the
vote, floor leader Robert Munson
of Cheneyville stepped to the
microphone and announced he'd
just talked by telephone with
Gov. McKeithen."
"As a result of the action of
this House on Mr. Dennis'
amendment — p r e s u m a b l y
backed by the college presidents
— the governor says he has no
alternative but to balance the
budget," Munson related.
"He says if this amendment
stays in, the dental school in
New Orleans will not open and
neither will the medical school in
Shreveport, or else some other
college will have to close."
Shreveport Rep. P". J. Mills
angrily responded: "I would like
to know if these two schools
which were approved by this
legislature are going to be
abolished. . .I would like to know
if the governor is going to
rescind the million and a half or
so in questionable computer
contracts during the past few
years, or if he will rescind the
$10 million contract for a natural
resources building, or numerous
downtown office buildings in
Baton Rouge.
" . . . Or will punitive measures
be done in other sections of the
(state because the executive has
not had his way?" Mills heatedly
asked.
The dispute quieted after Rep.
Laurence Delaroderie of Baton
Rouge pointed out that the only
way McKeithen could close the
dental and medical schools would
be to veto the entire appropria-tion
for LSU.
But an hour later the adminis-tration
retaliated with an amend-ment
by Rep. Benny Christian of
Rayville that would have strick-en
Dennis' prior amendment.
The acrimonious debate that
followed divided administration
forces and pitted floor leaders T.
T. Fields of Farmerville and
Richard Guidry of Galliano in a
heated exchange.
Dennis termed McKeithen's
college budget cut "political
irresponsibility and I think it
may have been to put the
squeeze on us to come back and
vote on new taxes."
During last fall's controversial
executive house session, Dennis
said, the governor threatened
every area of the state, including
Shreveport with loss of four-lane
highways.
"There just isn't enough mo-ney
to appropriate this," Munson
said. "We took the second
highest figure to appropriate
from. The highest was from the
Public Affairs Research Council,
which was $11 million higher
than the Division of Administra-tion."
The house finally rejected
Christian's bid, 55-46.
In addition to the veto immune
funds added Tuesday for the
colleges and public education,
the House also tacked on the
following amendments:
Angola State Prison, $230,000;
Industrial School for Colored
Youth at Scotlandville, $200,000;
Department of Revenue for
additional auditors, $221,000; the
Port of Baton Rouge, $704,958;
Delgado Trade School in New
Orleans, $60,000; Higher Educa-t
i o n Assistance Commission,
$265,078; LSU Dental school
$443,198; Public Schools, $19
million; Trade schools, $324,000;
North Central Trade School
Bastrop branch, $20,000; Teacher
Retirement fund, $2.8 million;
O r l e a n s teacher retirement,
$500,000.
None of the above line item
appropriations are given any
chance of escaping either remo-val
in the Senate or McKeithen's
veto. -
Of all the changes made in the
appropriation bill Tuesday, only
one was to delete an appropria-tion.
Rep. E. L. "Bubba" Henry
of Jonesboro succeeded in elimi-nating
$62,080 for LSU's so called
"wilderness campus" in the
Catahoula-Concordia P a r i s h
area.
Rep. David Patten of Jones
ville fought the deletion and
forced the House into four
separte votes on the issue
before finally being convinced of
defeat.