State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

John Bel Edwards asks to move $175 million from small business program to unemployment fund

The Advocate: Igniting controversy, Gov. John Bel Edwards on Friday asked legislative leaders to move what he called $175 million in unspent dollars for small businesses to help shore up Louisiana's dwindling unemployment fund and for local governments.

"While this allocation will not meet all the needs that we have for local governments and the Unemployment Trust Fund, it will go a long way towards providing for stability in the local governments most affected by COVID-19 and helping to prevent crippling tax increases on businesses because of the likely insolvency of the trust fund," Edwards said in a letter to Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette and House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales.

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