BATON ROUGE - Governor Jeff Landry sent a letter to the Louisiana senate president and speaker regarding a "Fiscal Responsibility Program" to reduce the cost of government.

The letter states that the state budget "ballooned" over the past 10 years while Louisiana's population shrunk, and Landry referenced an executive order he issued when he first became governor that directed department heads to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.

According to Landry, their first budget called for a $3.3 billion reduction in spending from the previous budget, and the state realized a final reduction of around $2 billion.

Landry said he wanted four members appointed alongside a Fiscal Responsibility Czar, which he would appoint. He said the program would examine current services that the state government is mandated to perform and look to make those services more modern and efficient. Additionally, the project can explore what services should still exist and what other services the government can perform to "give the best possible service at the lowest, most reasonable cost."