Bill to abolish the LRA on hold n for now

The sponsor of a bill to abolish the governor’s post-hurricane recovery authority said he would shelve the proposal n at least temporarily n after authority members defended their performance Thursday and said much of the legislative ire was misplaced.

Members of the Louisiana Recovery Authority board said lawmakers were blaming them for the slow pace of housing aid to homeowners with damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But the LRA doesn’t manage the Road Home and didn’t hire the contractor running it, ICF International Inc. That responsibility falls to Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s Division of Administration.

“We did not sign the Road Home contract. We did not hire ICF. We cannot fire them,” said Norman Francis, chairman of the LRA Board of Directors.

The committee hearing showcased disagreements between agencies of state government over their roles in recovery and the roadblocks encountered, and lawmakers on the Senate Local and Municipal Affairs Committee said they were tired of agencies refusing to share responsibility for the problems.

“As a legislator, I can’t hold anybody accountable for citizens who are not being served,” said Sen. Lydia Jackson, D-Shreveport.

The LRA was created by Blanco after the 2005 storms and put into law shortly thereafter by the Legislature at the urging of the governor’s office. The authority’s governing 33-member board includes nearly all members appointed by Blanco.

Senators said they understood the LRA created recovery policy and doesn’t manage the programs created to dole out the aid, but they said they want the LRA to take a leadership role in highlighting problems in recovery and want the authority to be more responsive to their complaints.

Sen. Cleo Fields, chairman of the committee and sponsor of the bill to abolish the LRA, said he didn’t want to disrupt recovery efforts. He said he wouldn’t try to advance the bill if members of the recovery authority worked harder with the governor’s office and ICF to speed up aid delivery to people.

But Fields, D-Baton Rouge, said he expected to see progress n and much more communication between the LRA and Blanco’s offices n quickly or he’d resume his push to do away with the agency. Fields also said Blanco should get involved to ensure communication improves.

“I think there’s enough blame to go around to everybody,” Fields said.

The bulk of the discussion centered on the Road Home program, which was heavily criticized as moving too slowly to dole out aid to homeowners.

Of the more than 137,000 applications for aid, about 13 percent have received grants n 17,600 homeowners, according to the latest statistics from the Road Home. But the $7.5 billion program, funded with federal aid, is on track to be as much as $3 billion short of the money it will need to cover eligible homeowners.

Lawmakers said the program moved too slowly to help people who are suffering.

Sen. Derrick Shepherd, D-Marrero, said the LRA showed a “failure of leadership” for refusing to advocate firing ICF from the Road Home program or for publicly complaining about the governor’s Office of Community Development n the office within Blanco’s Division of Administration that contracted with ICF.

“I’m not going to take the blame for ICF’s inability to move a program,” Francis said.

Mike Taylor, with the Office of Community Development, said the office wants to move money into homeowners’ hands as quickly as possible and believes coordination among the agencies is essential to making that happen.

“As with any complex operation there is always room for improvement based on operational experience,” Taylor said in an e-mailed statement.

The LRA board members, including Francis and LRA housing committee chairman Walter Leger, said the state needs to keep the recovery authority in tact to speak “with one voice” in Washington to request further aid, particularly for the Road Home. That’s the same point the nonpartisan Council for A Better Louisiana made in its statement opposing Fields’ bill. CABL said dismantling the LRA would send a message to Washington that Louisiana’s recovery needs were over.

Senators praised the individual credentials of the LRA board members, many of whom are business and civic leaders around Louisiana, but they said the LRA should exert more leadership.

“We’re way too polite,” said Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Mandeville.

Francis told the committee, “We’re going to be more aggressive, and maybe we shouldn’t be as polite as we have been.”