Louisiana Lawmakers Wrap Up Work on $25.6B Budget

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana House has agreed to a $25.6 billion budget for next year that includes hundreds of millions of dollars in spending above the figure sought by a group of conservative Republicans.

Lawmakers voted 62-40 Sunday for the Senate version of the spending plans for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The vote gave final passage to the measure, sending it to GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal. He supports the larger budget, rather than the deeper cuts sought by the conservative bloc.

In a separate 73-28 vote, the House gave final passage to legislation that will tap the state's "rainy day" fund to fill a gap in this year's budget, which had a home of more than $200 million.

The three-month regular legislative session must end Monday by 6 p.m.