Push for reform kicks into high gear

With about two weeks to go in the 2007 Regular Session, legislatures representing the Tri-parish area took a moment to reflect on what has already transpired in the historic session.

The hot topics were, of course, the Morganza to the Gulf project, coastal restoration and the task of bringing insurance companies back to south Louisiana.

“The insurance companies are not inclined to take on risks. They want a sure thing. And that’s not really what insurance is supposed to be about,” said Sen. Butch Gautreaux, D-Morgan City.

Much of the coastal restoration projects and Morganza were tied up in House Bill 3, which was the appropriation bill for all the state’s proposed projects. The bill was help up by the Republicans in the house, or taken hostage, as many of the Democrats in house have suggested, in order to force more tax cuts and less spending.

The bill did pass after a little negotiation.

And this snag in an otherwise smooth legislative session was perhaps symptomatic of a new and unique problem, the influx of money into the state.

“So far it’s been a battle, one I’ve never seen before. And that is a battle over how to spend so much money the state has,” said Rep. Warren J. Triche Jr., D-Thibodaux. “In 20 years of being here, the state’s never had that kind of money to spend.”

Sen. Butch Gautreaux, D-Morgan City

Gautreaux characterized the session as being a hardworking one with lots of hours both in debate and in committee.

“I think it’s been a pretty good session,” said Gautreaux.

He said the session has gone pretty smooth on the senate side and doesn’t think the senate will have the same disagreement over the appropriations bill for the state’s budget as there was in the house.

“We think that it’s pretty much a consensus on this side,” said Gautreaux. “Once the bill reaches here, I think those difficulties will be worked out.”

He said the Morganza development project is the number one priority and the bill it is contained in, HB 3, also has a lot of other things important to his district, public infrastructure projects, specifically.

He said these infrastructure developments are important to the local economy in that they allow businesses to come in and people to build houses.

Gautreaux did get a taste of defeat when he pressed the insurance industry.

He sponsored a bill that would have required insurance companies who are writing multiple lines and were writing homeowners to provide windstorm and hail coverage.

But, the insurance companies would not be required to offer this coverage to structures that are not rated to withstand hurricane force winds.

The billed failed, but the vote was close, said Gautreaux.

“The building codes that we have today were encouraged by the insurance industries, telling us last year when we adopted the codes statutorily that, that was the only way the insurance companies would be able to come back and provide windstorm and hail coverage,” said Gautreaux. “Now, we did this. We bit the bullet. We did the hard thing.”

Gautreaux said that despite the toughening of the building codes, the insurances companies clamored the bill was unfair to them, to require them to write windstorm and hail coverage.

He said the insurance companies have indicated they don’t want to come back and provide this coverage for another couple of years, so they can recoup their losses from the 2005 hurricane season.

“We’ve done what they [insurance companies] asked. And it’s going to make a big difference. And it’s going to cut their losses. But the industry just doesn’t like to be told what to do,” said Gautreaux.

On a side note, Gautreaux was quick to commend Sen. Reggie P. Dupre, D-Houma, for his work on the coastal restoration projects.

“He [Sen. Dupre] is the champion of coastal restoration. And he’s recognized throughout the legislature for his abilities and for all the work he’s done to protect us along the coast,” said Gautreaux.

Rep. Damon J. Baldone, D-Houma

Baldone said he’s worked to put in a lot of money for the Morganza to the Gulf Project, LA 1 and coastal restoration projects.

“We’re doing really well for Terrebonne and Lafourche and we’re really happy about that,” said Baldone.

He said Morganza has been his number one focus for the last six years.

“Morganza is obviously the number one priority and I’ve got that covered as far as the money we need for next year’s budget,” said Baldone.

He said his feels confident about Morganza going through this year and his next biggest focuses were tax cuts and the insurance crisis.

“We have tax cuts for business. We have tax cuts for the lower income people. We have tax cuts for the private schools,” said Baldone. “We had a bunch of tax cuts, which is good.”

He’s also pushing the governor’s plan to draw medium level insurance companies back to Louisiana. The plan would dedicate $100 million from the state toward this end and provide tax credits and funding matches to companies meeting certain requirements.

“If you bring in $10 million you can ensure, I think, $40 million worth of property,” said Baldone. “Now, what we’re doing is if you bring in $10 million the state will put up another $10 million, so now you got $20 million and can ensure $80 million worth of property.”

He said the changes in building codes have been huge in trying to draw insurance companies back to the area.

He said the building code changes are a long-term plan to reduce insurance rates and draw insurance companies back to the area, as more and more buildings are built or adjusted to meet the new codes.

“Insurance is driven by greed and fear. And right now the fear is still outweighing the greed. And slowly it’s coming back up where the greed is going to overtake the fear and they’ll jump back into the market,” said Baldone.

Rep. Warren J. Triche Jr., D-Thibodaux

Triche said the session has been like a battle he’s never seen before in his 20 years of experience. The state simply has never had this much money to spend before.

He said some legislatures want to spend a heavy amount, some want to spend very little, some don’t want to spend any of it and some want to spend all of it before they leave.

He said because of this there is a lot of uncertainty in the session.

He said the house spending bills are up for grabs. The tax credit bills are up for grabs and there’s still no certainty for what is going to take place.

“And all of that leaves me to think and believe there’s going to eventually be a special session before the year is over,” said Triche.

Rep. Carla Blanchard Dartez, D-Morgan City

Dartez said the session has definitely not gone smoothly in the house, but admits it never goes smoothly.

She pointed out the partisanship that arose over HB 3, as an example, but remains optimistic.

“It’s going to go down to the wire, but it seems in the eight years I’ve been here it’s always worked out,” said Dartez.

She said she feels in her heart there will be raises for teachers, police officers and firemen. And she said she thinks the $400 million from the failed attempt to lure the German steel company ThyssenKrupp AG to the sate will go to road projects.

On the whole, Dartez has a different philosophy than most legislatures going into the session.

“I don’t introduce much legislation. I think we have enough laws on the books. What I try to do is kill bad legislation,” said Dartez.

But, if she feels passionate about an issue, she’s not afraid to push a bill.

Dartez also believes another aggravating factor in the session has been the imposition of term limits.

“It’s the first time in the history of Louisiana where you have term limits and this is coming into play. So, you have a couple of colleagues who have terms limits who just really don’t care and are doing crazy stuff,” said Dartez.

She also said the session has been an emotional one, as each day different legislatures are giving their farewell speeches.

She said out of the 105 members of the House, 50 or more will be new. And out of the Senate 18 or more will be new, where 20 is the magic number to have a majority.

“It’s not going to be the same. If I get re-elected next year, it’ll be my last term. I’ll be a senior member, which is great. I’m already working on whomever may be governor to request certain chairmanships and stuff,” said Dartez.

Besides pay raises, Dartez has focused on the health care system in the state.

She said she introduced a resolution to request the LSU Board of Supervisors Health Science Centers to look at the feasibility of regionalizing the state.

She said she is concerned too much attention may be placed on putting money into the bricks and mortar of the new New Orleans medical center that the other problems with the charity hospital system will be overlooked.

“My main focus was to make sure the indigent of my district and of the state as a whole gets health care and the proper health care,” said Dartez.

She said she’s been working on the regionalizing for the last five years.

She said the Morganza to the Gulf project is both warranted and necessary, but admits it doesn’t really provide protection for her constituents.

She said she first had to get funding for the barrier island project to protect her constituents before helping with the Morganza project.

Editor’s Note: Calls to State Sen. Reggie Dupre, Rep. Gordon Dove and Rep. Loulan Pitre went unreturned as of press time.