Workload to focus on finances for state

“Budget, budget, budget,” said state Rep. Joe Harrison regarding the biggest issue facing Louisiana legislators as they opened their regular session Monday in Baton Rouge.

Following a special assembly that ended April 13, resulting in controversial redistricting plans for state senators and representatives, as well as a Congressional district map that spurred heated debate and animosity among lawmakers, and a rift formed between many delegates and Gov. Bobby Jindal, Louisiana legislators returned to the capitol to take on financing state programs and added issues.

Delegates from Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary parishes offered a look at their expectations for the next nine weeks as they went back to work.

SEN. NORBY CHABERT (R-HOUMA)

“It’s going to be a tough budget year,” said state Sen. Norby Chabert, who changed his party affiliation to Republican after voicing frustration with how Democrats dealt with issues from last year’s B.P. Deepwater Horizon oil spill to limiting business opportunities in southern Louisiana.

“I plan on spending the majority of my time insuring that [Leonard J.] Chabert [Medical Center] has the funds to remain solvent and open,” he said.

Chabert expressed concerns that the Houma-based medical facility, which is part of the LSU Health System, was pulling its weight financially while smaller state-funded hospitals were not producing income to contribute to their own support. He anticipates medical-related services and education to take the hardest hits as lawmakers think budget.

The state senator said he expects “the majority of fights” will result from proposed cuts to a budget that already has a $1.6 billion deficit. “Each cut is going to have huge ramifications on services to the state [and] each cut is going to be a battle. Naturally, I plan on being in the mix,” Chabert said.

Chabert has offered one piece of legislation to his side of the capitol which would protect oyster leases and problems resulting from the BP oil spill. He explained that his resistance to file multiple bills comes with his basic philosophy that the work of government is often bogged down by too many side issues that steal attention needed for major concerns.

“I’ve always thought there is way too much legislation introduced every session. I’m never going to be the guy that introduces 100 bills,” Chabert said. “I don’t consider myself to be a bill passer. I consider myself to be a bill beater.”

Chabert serves as chairman of the Vocational and Technical Education Committee, vice-chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, and is on committees for Judiciary, Budget and Commerce.

SEN. D.A. “BUTCH” GAUTREAUX (D-MORGAN CITY)

State Sen. D.A. “Butch” Gautreaux is completing his service in state office due to term limits, and said his not being in campaign mode would not influence his participation or decisions when it comes to dealing with legislative issues. He is offering a proposal that would revamp the state’s retirement system.

The bill would create a second tier of retirement packages and give employers who participate in one of the state or statewide retirement systems the choice to join the cheaper, less employee-beneficial alternative.

The new retirement package tier would be divided into hazardous and non-hazardous plan sub plans.

Employees in the non-hazardous sub plan would pay an additional 0.5 percent, when compared to Tier 1, into the system. Retirement eligibility requires five years of service at age 65 or 25 years of service at any age. The maximum retirement calculation is 2.5 percent of an employee’s 60-month average salary multiplied by years of service.

The hazardous sub plan would require an additional 1 percent payment when compared to Tier 1, allow for retirement with 12 years of service at age 57 or 20 years of service at any age and have a maximum retirement calculation of 3 percent of the employee’s 60-month average salary multiplied by years of service.

The bill includes a provision to stamp out potential employee favoritism by requiring all of an entity’s personnel to be included in the same benefit tier.

Also the chairman of the Retirement Committee, the senator said the plan has been “better received than I anticipated.” Gautreaux said three of the state’s retirement systems adopted resolutions in support of the bill. The Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System said it will not take a position on Senate Bill 12.

“They know something has to be done,” Gautreaux said. “We can’t continue down this same path, but change is hard. I think they would have preferred that I placed this upon them and that way they can say, ‘It’s not my fault,’ but this has to be a joint effort. That’s why I have the optional language in there that allows them to opt in or do nothing that keeps them in Tier 1.”

After the stock market crash in 2008-2009, employer contributions to the state retirement systems have ballooned to compensate for the underwhelming return on investment. The Teacher’s Retirement System of Louisiana, for example, has increased its employer contribution from 15.5 percent in 2008-2009 to 23.7 percent in 2011-2012.

“Frankly, the employees, there are some that are disgruntled about it, but by-and-large, they understand that I’ve been on their side for 16 years, and I wouldn’t suddenly change sides on them,” Gautreaux said. “I’m trying to do something that preserves their retirement system, and they understand that.”

REP. DAMON BALDONE (D-HOUMA)

As the sole Democrat legislator from Terrebonne Parish, Rep. Damon Baldone has suggested that his party affiliation is secondary to his unification with the Tri-parish delegation as they pool resources for regional improvements.

“Obviously, the big thing [this session] is the budget and the cuts the governor has proposed [which are] unrealistic,” Baldone said. “[Jindal] makes a lot of assumptions that the public has not seen. Like the sale of jails. I have not heard one legislator who thinks it is a good idea. The governor is counting on that money to balance his budget. I don’t think it is going to pass.”

Baldone was the most aggressive bill writer among the Terrebonne representatives this session. His five pieces of proposed legislation range along traditionally conservative lines from requiring Medicaid to accept generic prescription drugs, to increasing tuition for state university students that are not U.S. citizens.

“I don’t like taxes, but we might have to look at some [to balance the state budget],” he said. “Sometimes it is a return on investment. If we raised the cigarette tax $1 a pack that would raise $300 billion and our budget is almost balanced with that.”

Baldone is among a number of legislators that will seek revisiting the issue of Congressional districting and said their intention is to confront supporters of a passed measure with facts opposed by Jindal.

“The governor wants to keep two congressmen up north,” Baldone said. “That makes no sense, since the population and the economy are in the south. He’s not thinking about the state of Louisiana, just his own personal aspirations. When you put the governor and two congressmen above the state of Louisiana, that’s treason in my book.”

REP. GORDON DOVE (R-HOUMA)

Stressing that he does not like to see anyone lose a job, Rep. Gordon Dove said it is time to take a hard look at the content of state government, then reduce personnel and services in order to balance the budget.

“We need to trim down the size of government,” Dove said. “We don’t have a revenue problem. The state of Louisiana has a spending problem.”

Dove said that while there is a $1.6 billion deficit to the proposed state budget, it is still not as severe as some states which he claimed have overdrafts of anywhere from $8 billion to $20 billion. “We are just going to have to knuckle down and cut $1.6 billion or whatever we end up with,” he said.

Dove said there is no getting around the fact that constitutionally Louisiana is required to have a balanced budget. “It is not like the federal government that can just print more money. We can’t do that. We don’t print money,” he said.

This legislative session Dove has presented bills that would regulate fishing in Louisiana waters and monitor harvesting of public oyster fields.

Dove is chairman of the Natural Resources and Environment Committee, and is on the governor’s task force for coastal restoration. He has also been a strong catalyst behind development of the Morganza to the Gulf project and development of the Houma Navigational Canal floodgate system.

REP. JERRY ‘TRUCK’ GISCLAIR (D-LAROSE)

Rep. Jerry “Truck” Gisclair, D-Larose, said he plans to address the fact that state gaming revenue is not being used for higher education and health care, as originally promised.

“If the money was originally dedicated for specific purposes, I want to return it to those specific purposes,” Gisclair said. “That way, we’re not going to see as many cuts to higher education throughout the state. … Obviously, through political pressures, [the revenues] were diverted to whatever programs the sitting governor wanted.”

As it pertains to the handling of state employees during the contentious session, Gisclair said state government employees should be handled in a similar fashion to their private business counterparts: Cuts must be made when there are too many.

“Obviously, we have way too many state employees, and we really need to look at how much government has grown compared to the previous administrations,” Gisclair said. “I think a lot of agencies are currently top-heavy, and I really think it’s time we face reality. If you can’t afford to operate, you have to scale back. We do it in normal business, so why can’t we do it at a state level?”

Gisclair also said he would introduce a bill that runs concurrent with the Department of Health and Hospitals to begin a 12-month study on the adverse health effects that people claim are stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Gisclair said his colleagues in non-spill affected areas are supportive of the cause.

“A lot of representatives from the central and north Louisiana, they were abreast of the BP issues, but not in detail, and once they heard the horror stories, I think they look at it in a different light than 6-8 months ago.”

REP. JOE HARRISON (R-GRAY)

In addition to his budgetary focus this session, Rep. Joe Harrison is introducing an immigration bill for the fourth time that restricts immigrants from receiving public benefits if they are not U.S. citizens.

Harrison is also making a push for the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie to be placed under the direct administration and management of Nicholls State University. “We are only doing deepwater research there [at this time],” he said. “We should also be doing coastal restoration and seafood industry research at LUMCON. We are the most impacted area of the state, yet other universities are running [LUMCON]. Nicholls State has earned the respect to have a research facility under their direction.”

Harrison has called Jindal’s budgetary initiatives “failed policy”, and along with Dove, said there are a lot of programs that need to be reduced or even eliminated if they “are not truly helping the people of Louisiana.”

Harrison will likely back on the House side Chabert’s interest in protecting Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center from the budget axe. “Chabert is a first-class hospital, but we take their dollars to support Lallie Kemp [Regional Medical Center in Independence]. Some of the hospitals that are not producing should be eliminated, but not Chabert,” he said. “In the light of bad times there are opportunities. We have an opportunity to put this state back on the right track.”

Harrison is a member of the Appropriations Committee, Judiciary Committee, Natural Resources and Environment, and is a member of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

REP. SAM JONES (D-FRANKLIN)

Jones said that a more fundamental and comprehensive approach is needed in establishing a budget, so that the Legislature can identify hidden and unnecessary expenditures that need to be removed for both short and long-term relief.

“I’d like to see the budget stripped down and debated to its core in the session in hopes that the state’s fiscal future can be carefully planned,” state Rep. Sam Jones said.

Jones also said that state jobs would have to be cut through attrition, but warned against too much too fast. He said the state’s unemployment benefit office is understaffed, which has resulted in the jobless being placed on hold for more than 2 hours and delays of benefit approval of up to 9 to 12 weeks. “That’s just unacceptable and it’s making government dysfunctional,” the St. Mary Parish representative said.

REP. JEROME “DEE’ RICHARD (I-THIBODAUX)

Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard, I-Thibodaux, filed a bill that would reduce the amount of positions in the state executive department by 5,000 for three consecutive years. Richard said the jobs would be cut through attrition but admitted that 5,000 may be an overly ambitious figure.

“I think that’s a goal,” Richard said. “I think 2,500 would be realistic. If we could do that, I’d be satisfied with that.

“I’m just following [state Treasurer] John Kennedy’s lead on this. I’ve been listening to him, and I just think it makes too much sense. There are jobs out there that go unfilled, so money sits in their budgets in each department. The money could be transferred back to the general fund and used for things like higher education and health care.”

Richard also filed a bill that would remove the 12-hour tuition fee cap currently enforced at the state’s colleges.

“I just think that if you’re registered for 15 hours, you should pay for 15 hours,” Richard said. “The schools have to pay for the teachers and everything else for those extra 3 hours, so it seems to me that if someone should be paying for it, if you register you should take it.”

LEGISLATIVE OUTLOOK

Members of the Tri-parish delegation contend that the work of the Louisiana legislature will not be easy this session.

“The biggest thing is to get Terrebonne and Lafourche [parishes] back together [as a complete area of state and Congressional representation,]” Baldone said. “The other thing is to get the governor to come around to realize his budget is hurting us in the long run. The governor is not letting us invest [in our future], he is just cutting us.”

Meanwhile, Gisclair is looking to streamline state government, beginning with cutting excessive staff.

This delegation claims that keeping the interest of the area it represents is its top priority – so is the rebuilding of some political bridges following a divisive special session that was completed only 11 days earlier.

“I’d like to see a balanced budget,” Harrison said. “And some mending after this last session.”