There's over a billion dollars in unpaid fines and fees owed to the state. The Louisiana legislature just approved House Bill 741 that allows the state to hire collection agencies to go after the $1.3 billion owed to the state. "It's all across state government," says State Treasurer John Kennedy.
           He says it's unpaid bills, fees and fines that have accumulated for the quarter ending in December of last year. We have 1.5 billion dollars in money thats's owed the state. Over fifty percent of it is over 180 days pass due. Some of the biggest balances owed are right here in Northwest Louisiana.
LSU Health has a balance of over 12 million dollars. Southern University in Shreveport has a balance of 871-thousand dollars while Grambling State has a debt close to four and half million dollars. Northwestern University has a running total of 10 million dollars.
           Kennedy believes the bills will be managed better in Baton Rouge. "They ought to turn their receivables, money owed to taxpayers over to a centralized group n state government and let us hire the expertise," Kennedy said.
         He says collecting a small amount of this debt could really turn the state money crises around. He says He'd much rather see government entities do the work they're paid to do rather than working to collect debt. Kennedy says any amount collected is better than nothing. He says if everyone in the state payed their back taxes, bills and fines, cost for services can go down, which will saves everyone money.