BATON ROUGE — The research director at Louisiana's Public Affairs Research Council said Thursday that state lawmakers were told there's an estimated $565 million budget surplus from the budget year that ended in June. 

Melinda Deslatte says Joint Budget Committee lawmakers were told about the surplus.

The surplus came from the constitutional limiting of how the money can be spent when lawmakers appropriate it in the next session, she notes.

ANOTHER BUDGET SURPLUS: Louisiana lawmakers (on the Joint Budget committee) were told there's an estimated $565 million surplus from the budget year that ended June 30. The constitution limits how the money can be spent when lawmakers appropriate it in the next session. #lalege

— Melinda Deslatte (@MelindaDeslatte) October 15, 2026

Deslatte said a quarter of the surplus—$141 million—must be used to pay down retirement debt.

"Another quarter of the surplus must go to the state 'rainy day' fund," Deslatte noted. 

She said that lawmakers can decide how they want to spend the remaining money on certain one-time items like debt payments and construction.