Collection:LPB

Genre: Speech

Place Covered: Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 2008-03-09

Duration: 00:39:03

Subjects: Jindal, Bobby, 1971- | Louisiana. Legislature | Louisiana Legislative Session, 2008 | SPECIAL SESSIONS | Politics | Government | STATE BUDGET | Budget surpluses | Corporate tax | Taxes | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | Transportation | Environment | COASTAL RESTORATION | Hurricane protection | Pennington Biomedical Research Center | RETIREMENT SYSTEMS

Contributors:

• Ekings, Robyn Host
• Erwin, Barry Guest
• Jindal, Bobby Speaker

Robyn Ekings hosts live coverage of Governor Bobby Jindal’s opening address to a 2008 Special Session of the Louisiana Legislature on March 9, 2008. Prior to the speech, Ekings and Barry Erwin of the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL) discuss Jindal’s spending plan for the $1.1 billion budget surplus. In his speech, Governor Jindal discusses: eliminating the business taxes on utilities, new equipment, and capital debt; economic development, including reauthorizing the new markets tax credit program; and providing a tax deduction for school tuition. He also outlines his $1.1 billion spending plan, including $515 million for roads, bridges, and ports, $300 million for hurricane protection and coastal restoration, $50 million for the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, $80 million for higher education infrastructure, and $70 million for paying down the debt of the state’s retirement systems. Following the speech, Ekings and Erwin analyze the Governor’s address.