Louisiana’s construction budget includes money for a PMAC makeover

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - In the midst of all the chaos during the final minutes of the session, lawmakers were forced to vote on several amendments to the state budget with little to no time to review them. And one of the items that slipped into the budget at the last second was $100 million for PMAC renovations.

Head coach for the Lady Tigers, Kim Mulkey, made it crystal clear she would like to see the PMAC get a nice makeover. And now, it appears she will get what she asked for, at least to a degree. An amendment slipped last minute into the state budget and included $101 million to be placed into the Tiger Athletic Foundation for a PMAC enhancement project. Before you fall out of your chair, it will all be ready to spend at once.

“Several members came to me requesting it and it was a small ask up front,” said House Republican Rep. Stuart Bishop who authored the state HB2.

He says the amendment puts $1 million into the foundation to spend right away and then another $50 million in fees and self-generated revenue, which would go toward any renovations. So, they won’t have all of it upfront, but it’s enough to at least get started.

“Anything that’s done in the construction budget is done in phases so the million can help them start with the planning for construction and feasibility studies and then trailing money which comes in priorities is in the bill,” Rep. Bishop continued.

Even though a new PMAC is something Mulkey has been vocal about all session, Rep, Bishop says the money was put in without her input. But here’s the catch, the construction budget is $400 million over its limit, which gives the governor the final say in what the university gets.

“The bill is over capacity and the governor does have the final say with the line-item veto so that will be between the governor and the university,” Rep. Bishop explained.

Although the governor has the authority to make changes or take it out of the budget completely, it’s unclear at the moment what he intends to do.

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