SB 33 rises from grave, bill ghosts through Senate

Tales of Senate Bill 33’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. The bill designed to increase the Terrebonne Parish Port Commission’s expropriation powers quietly passed through the state Senate last week with a 38-0 vote.

The bill would amend current law, allowing the port commission to expropriate any existing facility that has not been operational for at least two years prior to the filing of an expropriation petition and does not fall into the categories of shipbuilding, fabrication and seafood handling facilities.

The catalyst for this bill is the more than 1,700 acres of land owned by the South Carolina-based L-M Limited Partnership president Porter Baron.

The land, which has 330 acres of “usable” land according to Terrebonne Parish assessor Gene P. Bonvillain, has been left derelict for the last several years and Baron has said he’s been trying to sell it for just as long.

Of course, after approaching the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority for assistance in selling his land, which had been assessed at $7 million by Bonvillain, Baron dramatically upped the asking price for his 1,700-acre property to the $100 million range.

TEDA and the port commission, both wanting to see this land developed, approached Gautreaux for legislative help.

The port commission director has said the main purpose of the bill is to give the local government leverage over Baron in hopes of bringing him back to the negotiating table with a more reasonable asking price.

Sen. Butch Gautreaux, D-Morgan City, sponsored the bill.

But recent reports claimed Gautreaux was planning to let the bill die, citing a lack of support from the local government.

In reality, Gautreaux sat on the bill for a week, while waiting to receive letters of support from TEDA and the Port Commission, the lawmaker explained.

“Well, I didn’t have visible support,” said Gautreaux. “I told the board and TEDA early on I better have visible support from them.”

Gautreaux, alluding to a similar instance in the past about which he didn’t wish to elaborate, said he didn’t want to go forward with such a bill and have anyone disavow support for it later.

This prompted both TEDA and the port commission’s board to meet and prepare letters of support for the SB 33, specifically.

“We have been corresponding with the senator and have tried to put forth our comments as fast as we could coordinate those comments,” said TEDA president Mike Ferdinand.

Gautreaux said he wanted to photocopy the letters and distribute them to the other senators, so they would know he wasn’t alone in support for this bill and it was, in fact, supported by the local government.

As late as the day before the bill was introduced in the Senate, Gautreaux intended to add two amendments to the bill.

One would have extended the two-year period in which a facility would have to have been operating prior to the filing of an expropriation petition from two years to six.

The other would have allowed land expropriated by the port commission to revert back to the original owner at the original purchase price if the land were not used for the purpose it had been expropriated.

Gautreaux chose not to offer either of these amendments up when asked for them in the Senate.

The bill wasn’t even debated and is scheduled to make its way to the House this week.