Louisiana Governor’s Proposed Budget

The Lt. Governor for Louisiana, Jay Dardenne, made an announcement on Thursday stating that with the new proposed budgets from Governor Bobby Jindal, he will not have the greatest ability to help advertise for the state, which is something that is done to help attract tourists and tourism, which ultimately leads to more money that the stat would earn which is why it is generally so important.

The Governor, Bobby Jindal, recently set a budget for the year of 2012 through 2013 which shows that more than half of the money from the budget will be used for large events, such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA Women’s Final Four instead of for advertising and promoting tourism for the state. Dardenne completely disagrees with the proposed budget and believes that it will do more harm than good. He believes it is important to promote tourism because that helps the state earn money.

While Dardenne and Jindal are actually both Republicans, they cannot seem to agree when it comes to the budget and they have not agreed with one another for at least two years now. Dardenne says that when tourists come to the state of Louisiana, the state earns more money which is why cutting the amount of money spent on advertising for the state is simply ridiculous and does not make a bit of sense. Dardenne says that the state is definitely a money making state but that in order to make money off of tourism, the state needs to make the initial investment and advertise.

The budget that is set would begin on the 1^st of July and would include about $24.8 million. In his proposed budget, Jindal has plans to pay $14.4 million for art grants and museums, along with different events that will take place in the state of Louisiana. Such events include the Super Bowl and Senior Olympics. A budget adviser for Jindal, Paul Rainwater, says that because the state is dealing with some budget troubles, they are simply trying to make some cuts as a way of saving money and making dollars stretch. He also argues that the Super Bowl and other major events are incorporated with tourism in a way.

Tourism is very important for the state of Louisiana. In fact, it is so important that many people’s jobs rely on tourism. Without the appropriate advertising for the state, tourism will not be as high as it could be and then the earning will be less. Many workers could end up suffering because of it as well. Many of the lawmakers understand exactly where Dardenne is coming from. They are working on a way to get more money for advertisements and marketing for next year’s budget.