Financing is in doubt for new New Orleans teaching hospital

Louisiana's efforts to finance a $1.2 billion teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans could be hamstrung by a constitutional cap on debt, which could force the project to be scaled back or reconfigured. Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has long counted on borrowing about $400 million as part of the financing mix for the proposed 424-bed hospital. But bond underwriters in New York recently told a group of legislators that the borrowing would likely count against the state's debt limit, which would make it difficult to get approval from the State Bond Commission.