BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) -- Catholic Charities of Acadiana will have $1 million less to spend in the next year due to a line-item veto yesterday by Gov. Jeff Landry.
Landry vetoed four specific appropriations from House Bill No. 1 of the 2024 Regular Session, one of which earmarked $1 million to Catholic Charities of Acadiana for "sheltering operations across eight parishes."
In his letter dated June 24 to the Speaker of the House, Phillip DeVillier (R-Eunice), and the President of the Senate, Cameron Henry (R-Metairie), Landry said the bill included 33 different appropriations to non-governmental organizations totalling over $16.5 million, of which he vetoed four.
"We reviewed these appropriations to determine if they serve an appropriate government function and it the appropriation was an efficient use of state resources," Landry wrote.
The loss will be felt immediately, as the charity's 2024-25 fiscal year starts July 1.
"Prior to next legislative session, we plan to work with the legislature to develop criteria for what type of NGO requests represent the best use of our scarce state recourses [sic]," Landry wrote.
The other three vetoes were $1 million earmarked for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, $50,000 to the Opportunity Industrial Center of Ouachita and $75,000 to Maroon, Inc. The latter is a New Orleans organization that seeks to "create an equitable community for small Black- and Brown-owned businesses and leaders to network & support each other," according to its website.
