It took Gov. Bobby Jindal four tries in the legislative process to beat back Sen. Edwin Murray's proposal to require Senate confirmation of the governing board for the planned University Medical Center. But the Republican governor, joined in this case by the Louisiana State University System, found enough allies in the House to amass a 33-54 vote in opposition to the bill. Murray, D-New Orleans, had argued that Senate Bill 18 was necessary to give proper legislative oversight of a hospital that will receive a quarter of its $1.2 billion construction cost from the state and is projected to require as much as $100 million in state general fund support annually once it opens, the New Orleans Times Picayune reports.
