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As the 2014 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature draws near, members of the local delegation say some key provisions they and other members have offered will have some direct impacts on local government and local people.
The state’s capital outlay budget, contained in House Bill 2, includes around $45 million earmarked for Terrebonne Parish projects, including major funding for the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project. A lesser slice of that money would help pay for construction work on Thompson Road, the Field of Dreams recreation center and the proposed emergency operations center in Gray.
Rep. Gordon Dove, R-Houma, said the inclusions are essential to completion or continuation of those projects.
It’s too soon to tell how the capital outlay items will ultimately fare, however, as the state sails into this session with an expected $500 million budget shortfall.
The session begins Monday and continues through June 2.
Dove’s own bills, pre-filed last week, include a provision that will streamline approval for cleanup of hazardous waste sites, allowing the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to contract directly through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for work to be done.
“The purpose is to expedite coastal restoration and hurricane protection,” Dove said Monday of his HB 850. “With getting projects approved our biggest problem is time more than anything. This cuts the red tape.”
Some upcoming debate regarding expenditures will likely include whether excess money from last year – constitutionally barred from use on operating expenses – might end up aiding some infrastructure projects, which are permitted.
The I-49 expansion, a pet project of Sen. Bret Allain, R-Bayou Vista, could be included in those discussions.
“I have talked to the governor but have no commitment from him,” the senator said. But projects in other parts of the state could also be seen as beneficiaries, and discussion could become heated as the session progresses.
Lively debate could result from a pre-filed Allain bill, SB 201. The bill mandates that in any election where a bond issue, tax levy or other debt assumption by government is the issue, the results shall be void unless 20 percent or more of qualified voters in election districts concerned have turned out.
“It requires a minimum turnout of 20 percent,” Allain explained. Supporters would agree that the proposal would ensure voter participation occurred on issues that reach directly into the pockets of citizens. Opponents may question the wisdom of tinkering with the system, suggesting that a lack of turnout might in itself be a signal of voter desire.
Another Allain instrument would directly impact some anglers. SB 344 would allow restaurants to cook fish brought to them by a licensed recreational fisherman, solely for his or her consumption along with guests.
The person bringing the fish would have to be the person who caught it. That would mean that redfish – banned from Louisiana tables if caught in this state – could again be on the table but not on the menu.
“A restaurant shall be authorized to prepare any fish legally taken by a licensed recreational fisherman,” is how the bill text reads. The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries would establish a program called the Louisiana Catch and Cook program.
SB 423, another Allain instrument, will require that claims of environmental damage from oilfield exploration must be presented for mediation prior to the admission of a lawsuit into court.
A major issue for Gov. Bobby Jindal is addressed in varying degrees by laws proposed in the packages of local lawmakers.
An Allain bill, SB 531, proposes that “no state or local governmental entity, except the Department of Natural Resources, the attorney general or the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority” may sue an entity for damages relating to work done under federal permits. This would include damages related to oil and gas exploration. It addresses issues relating to controversies arising from filing of a suit against oil companies for marsh and water body damage by oil companies by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority–East, which manages levees in Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes, as well as individual
“That is the governor’s bill that he asked me to carry,” Allain said. “It is something the governor wants, and I told him I would help him.”
The bill would clarify issues relating to who can file suits. Allain said. It is one of several relating to the topic.
Sen. Norby Chabert, R-Houma, has offered SB 305, which does not relate to lawsuits. But it does create a consortium of levee districts within the state that will advise as a body the CPRA on coastal issues.
The bill, if passed, will give birth to the Coastal Louisiana Levee Consortium “to facilitate communication and coordination of efforts to protect coastal Louisiana, its people, property, and resources; to increase awareness and understanding of integrated coastal protection, including but not limited to conditions, issues, strategies, and policies of flood control, coastal levee systems, hurricane risk reduction systems, and mitigation projects; and to provide a unified voice that is representative of the coastal levee community.”
Some issues addressed by pre-filed bills of local lawmakers are a matter of second looks.
Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Napoleonville, would create a constitutional amendment that would allow establishment of a Department of Elderly Affairs, whose secretary shall be appointed within civil service rules rather than by direct selection of the governor. There is currently an office of elderly affairs under the governor’s office. Harrison seeks a way to keep money intended for services provided to seniors from being used for other purposes.
The legislation has its roots in the dismissal of an Office of Elderly Affairs employee after testifying before a committee.
“It protects people from the wrath of a governor for testifying, to protect the employees,” Harrison said.
Last year, Harrison attempted to create a Department of Elderly Affairs but the bill went nowhere.
Another Harrison instrument, HB 493, would allow voters to consider a constitutional amendment requiring gambling proceeds to be dedicated for education.
This would be accomplished through creation of a Bet On Louisiana’s Future Fund. Its proceeds, deposited through a pre-authorized formula, would direct money into the TOPS program and into direct education funding.
Another local legislator is resurrecting an attempt to demand greater transparency in the office of the governor.
Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard, I-Thibodaux, pre-filed HB 121, which makes all records of the governor’s office subject to public records laws.
Specifically, the law would upend the current practice of exempting communications between the governor and department heads from public records disclosure requirements.
Another local House member has proposed legislation that would require drug testing of people seeking to claim their unemployment benefits.
Rep. Lenar Whitney, R-Houma, has filed HB 952, which “authorizes and directs the executive director of the La. Workforce Commission to establish a drug screening and testing program for unemployment compensation.”
The provision, according to the text of the bill filed by Whitney, “shall provide procedural safeguards to ensure the protection of the constitutional rights of program participants and provide that testing is conducted by state certified laboratories.”
