BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A north Louisiana lawmaker is backpedaling at least slightly on his bill to give the governor more authority to remove New Orleans-area levee board members, part of an ongoing dispute over a board’s lawsuit against the oil and gas industry.
As his bill came out of committee, Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, proposed to give the governor authority to remove members if they violate state law “or public policy.”
Critics said the bill (Senate Bill 79) would introduce political meddling into state flood protection, rather than keeping the boards largely independent from the governor’s office.
So, Adley announced Wednesday that he was removing the “public policy” language. That would mean a governor could only jettison a levee board member for violating state law, under the rewritten bill.
Senators still questioned how a governor would determine if a violation of state law occurred. But they’ll take up that debate another time, when the rewritten bill comes up for a vote on the Senate floor.
The bill was a direct response to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s anger over the actions of one of the levee boards, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. That board has filed a lawsuit against 97 oil and gas companies over coastal damage.
Jindal says the lawsuit is an unfair attack on a valuable industry and a windfall for trial lawyers.
___
Louisiana welfare recipients would be prohibited in state law from spending the federal assistance at lingerie shops, tattoo parlors, nail salons and jewelry stores, under a bill that received the support Wednesday of the House Health and Welfare Committee.
The Department of Children and Family Services already has enacted the restrictions in emergency rules. The bill (House Bill 1176) by Rep. Chris Broadwater, R-Hammond, would enshrine them in law.
Broadwater said he wants to make sure people use the federal aid to provide basic needs for their families.
The restrictions would cover the Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program - commonly known as welfare benefits - and the Kinship Care Subsidy Program. Both programs pay cash assistance to low-income families for items like food, clothing and housing.
Also barred under the bill from taking welfare debit cards would be video arcades, bail bond companies, cruise ships, psychics, adult-entertainment businesses, nightclubs, bars and any businesses where minors are not allowed.
Violators would stop receiving welfare benefits for a year for a first offense, two years for a second offense and permanently for a third offense. Businesses that violate the law would be fined $500 for a first violation, $1,000 for a second time and $2,500 for additional violations.
Tracking violations may be difficult, however, because the welfare money can be taken off the electronic benefit card as cash through an ATM.
The measure, backed without objection, moves next to the full House for debate.
___
The House voted 98-0 Wednesday to force a 10 percent cut on state agencies’ spending on consulting and professional services contracts, but the bill faces an iffy future in the Senate.
Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard, I-Thibodaux, has tried a similar bill for several years, only to see the idea killed in the Senate Finance Committee each time.
This year’s proposal would move any state general fund money that is saved from the contract cuts into a special fund to help pay for public colleges, which have been hit by repeated budget cuts over the last six years.
The bill (House Bill 142), heads to the Senate for consideration, with opposition from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration.
Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols said the measure would harm services and could force the state to unnecessarily cut federal dollars. She said the approach was arbitrary.
___
The Senate unanimously backed a bill that would allow qualified law enforcement officers, retired and active, to carry concealed weapons in any place open to the public.
Under the proposal (Senate Bill 361) by Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, officers would be required to carry photo identification, be sober and not be federally banned from having a firearm.
Active law officers would have to be full-time and get permission from the officer’s agency to carry concealed firearms. Retired law officers would have to be in good standing with the agency they retired from, be mentally sound and go through annual training.
The bill now moves to the House for consideration.
___
A measure to allow the state to implement its own, less stringent plan for limiting carbon dioxide emissions unanimously passed the Senate.
The measure (Senate Bill 650) by Sen. Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe, is a reaction to the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to release new carbon dioxide emission regulations by June as part of President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan.
Under the bill, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality would be in charge of implementing a state plan to meet new regulations by setting the standards and pace for measuring emissions.
Walsworth said that the new regulations could hurt Louisiana by causing the coal industry to increase rates, which he said would hurt the vulnerable the most since many depend on coal-powered energy. He said the state can avoid that by allowing DEQ to implement a flexible plan to meet the federal requirements.
The bill is supported by the coal industry, but opposed by the Sierra Club and the Alliance for Affordable Energy for environmental concerns.
The proposal moves next to the House for consideration.
___
An effort to make more of the state education board’s members elected by the public, rather than appointed by the governor, failed to win support Wednesday in the House and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Currently, eight members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education are elected from individual districts around the state, and three are appointed by the governor.
Rep. Brett Geymann’s constitutional change (House Bill 374) would have reconfigured the board so that two of the governor’s appointments would have become at-large seats elected by voters statewide. The governor would have maintained one appointment.
“Parents want to have a voice, and I think this is one way we can do that,” said Geymann, R-Lake Charles.
He said parents have complained that BESE members haven’t responded to their concerns about the Common Core education standards.
Opponents of the bill said they didn’t necessarily believe that having elected members would make BESE members more responsive to the public. They said the current model is a balanced approach to overseeing education policy for the state.
“I kind of like the ability for the governor to have some say because he represents the whole state,” said Rep. Greg Miller, R-Norco.
The committee voted 6-2 against the bill, stalling it in committee.
___
In other legislative action:
-The House criminal justice committee rejected a bill that would have made it a crime to expose a child under the age of 10 to a gun that isn’t secured in a lockbox or equipped with a safety device like a trigger lock. The committee voted 8-4 to kill the proposal (House Bill 1189) by Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport.
___
Online:
Louisiana Legislature: www.legis.la.gov
Please read our comment policy before commenting.