La. gov agrees to $1B earmark of oil spill money
La. governor agrees to earmark $1 billion of oil spill recovery money for savings funds
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Gov. Bobby Jindal has agreed to pour up to $1 billion in Gulf oil spill recovery money into Louisiana's "rainy day" fund and an elderly trust fund that was drained to plug budget gaps.
The governor's office announced Friday that Jindal signed the bill that contains the plan, along with other short-term maneuvers to keep next year's budget balanced.
Louisiana is expected to receive as much as billions of dollars from BP to pay for the state's claims of economic damage caused by the massive 2010 spill. Those dollars are separate from other civil penalties from violations of environmental laws.
The claims are the subject of ongoing federal litigation, and it's unclear when any money might be available to the state.
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House Bill 1026 can be found at www.legis.la.gov
