BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – In his final speech to start a Louisiana legislative session, Gov. Bobby Jindal will describe his budget-balancing plan as a way to scale back “corporate welfare” by eliminating certain types of tax breaks.

The Republican governor is using his speech Monday to defend his refusal to raise taxes, while sidestepping criticism the financial decisions he made helped to cause a $1.6 billion budget shortfall.

The governor’s office provided an advanced copy of Jindal’s remarks.

Jindal is term-limited and appears to be readying for a presidential campaign. His relationships with lawmakers have become frayed.

The governor wants to lessen spending on tax credits in which the state writes a check above a business’ tax liability. Lawmakers haven’t embraced the idea, instead wanting to look at scaling back other tax break programs.

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4/13/2015 12:49:17 PM (GMT -5:00)