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Archive for the ‘Higher Education’ Category

We don’t need no stinking discipline

Posted in Budget, Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Economy, Education, Ethics, Golf Courses, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Jobs, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Politicians, Transparency on July 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

            If the recently-concluded legislative session proved anything, it’s that lawmakers have little or no self-discipline when it comes to budgetary restraint in the face of overwhelming revenue shortfalls.

            Even as higher education was groping with ways to survive up to $310 million in cuts, legislators went on their annual spending binge. As if the $4.55 billion capital outlay budget crammed with local pork were not enough, legislators raided more than $140 million from the state emergency response fund, earmarking an additional $33 million for even more local projects in the ancillary budget, also identified as HB-76.

            The cuts to the Department of Health and Hospitals and higher education seemed not to matter a whit to some lawmakers. Rep. James Fannin (D-Jonesboro), defending the HB-76 pork, sniffed, “I don’t have an LSU in my district,” apparently forgetting for the moment that he most likely has quite a few constituents enrolled at LSU as well as LSU-Shreveport, Southern University-Shreveport, Northwestern State University, Louisiana Tech University, Grambling State University, or the University of Louisiana Monroe, all within an hour’s drive from his district.

            Not that LSU helped itself in the fiscal doom and gloom dialogue.

            Even as LSU System President John Lombardi was busy identifying $46 million in potential budget cuts, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved pay increases for two associate athletic directors. While faculty and support staff layoffs were being considered across campus, Senior Associate Athletic Director Verge Ausberry was awarded a 27 percent raise from $130,000 to $165,000. Fellow Senior Associate AD Mark Ewing, meanwhile, got a pay bump of 11 percent, from $155,000 to $172,000.

            Nor did Gov. Bobby Jindal attempt to stare down lawmakers, possibly out of concern of pushing the legislature into holding the first-ever veto session. He managed to veto 32 projects in HB-76 totaling only $2 million, leaving $31 million intact, and only eight projects totaling $20.1 million of the capital outlay bill (HB-2), trimming those expenditures all the way to $4.35 billion.

            For a year or more now, the media have trumpeted impending fiscal disaster as revenue shortfalls devastated agency budgets across the board. Yet lawmakers, seemingly oblivious to it all, continued to plow local projects into a budget already strained to the breaking point. If any of the 144 legislators were worried, no one appeared to exhibit concern. So eager to bring money back home were legislators that a $100,000 appropriation for Centenary College in Shreveport, a private Methodist school, was approved.

            Among the projects legislators poured into the Supplemental Appropriations Bill (HB-76) and the Capital Outlay Bill (HB-2) were:

  • Nearly $1.5 million on 50 parish councils on aging;
  • More than $29 million for municipalities and parishes for unspecified purposes;
  • $43.7 million in arts programs statewide;
  • $600,000 for an animal shelters in St. Charles and Livingston parishes;
  • $6.9 million for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches;
  • $18.7 million for professional sports facilities in Jefferson and Orleans parishes;
  • $12.7 million for golf complex facilities in Orleans and Calcasieu parishes;
  • $9.37 million in ground water reservoirs;
  • $7.5 million in local sewer system projects;
  • $19.9 million in local courthouse construction projects;
  • $17.1 million for Bayou Segnette Festival Park and Sports Complex improvements;
  • $18.5 million for recreational improvements in Jefferson, Vernon, Tangipahoa, Orleans, East Baton Rouge, and Iberia parishes;
  • $3.8 million for an activity center in Morehouse Parish;
  • $3.5 million for land acquisition in St. James Parish;
  • $4.6 million for renovations to the Baton Rouge River Center;
  • $1.4 million for baseball stadium improvements in Baton Rouge;
  • $1.17 million for renovations to the Zephyrs baseball facilities in Jefferson Parish;
  • $3.5 million for museums throughout the state;
  • $2 million for a farmers and fisheries market in Jefferson Parish;
  • $11 million for the Audubon 2000 renovations;
  • $3.8 million for tennis center improvements at New Orleans City Park;
  • $26.5 million for the National World War II Museum;
  • $400,000 for a bike trail in Orleans Parish;
  • $1.7 million for the Little Theatre of Shreveport;
  • $1.1 million for the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame & Museum in Houma;
  • $1.8 million for a multi-purpose vocational center and shelter in Tangipahoa Parish;
  • $2.6 million for the Algiers Development District;
  • $2 million for the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame;
  • $2.4 million for YMCA facilities in Orleans and East Baton Rouge parishes;
  • $2.3 million for multi-purpose facilities in Franklin and East Baton Rouge parishes;
  • $5.4 million for the Forts Randolph and Buhlow Historic Site;

            Several million in additional funding was approved for local fire districts, police departments, municipal buildings, and sheriffs’ offices, bringing the cost of local pork projects to more than half-a-billion dollars, easily surpassing the $310 million in budget reductions to higher education.

            In the wake of such a bleak financial future currently being faced by the state, the obvious question is who would vote for such reckless spending? Try 86 of 105 House members and 35 of 39 Senators on HB-2. On HB-76 (the Supplemental Spending Bill), the count was 88 House members in favor and 37 Senators. In fact, it would be easier to name those who voted against the bills. Those figures are seven nays in the house for HB-2 and zero in the Senate. Zero was also the number of votes against HB-76 in both chambers though there were some notable absentees.

            House members voting against HB-2 were Jerry Gisclair of LaRose, Juan LaFonta of New Orleans, Rogers Pope of Denham Springs, Clifton Richardson of Baton Rouge, John Schroder of Abita Springs, M.S. “Mert” Smiley of Port Vincent, Mack “Bodi” White of Denham Springs.

            Absent House members or those not voting included Elton Aubert of Vacherie, Jared Brossett of New Orleans, Timothy Burns of Mandeville, Billy Chandler of Dry Prong, Gordon Dove of Houma, James Fannin of Jonesboro, A.B. Franklin of Lake Charles, John LaBruzzo of Metairie, Joseph Lopinto of Metairie, Rickey Nowlin of Natchitoches, Joel Robideaux of Lafayette and Karen St. Germain of Plaquemine.

            Senate members who apparently were too busy to vote on the second biggest spending bill on the final day of the session included Jack Donahue of Mandeville, Dale Erdy of Livingston, Robert Kostelka of Monroe and Jean-Paul Morrell of New Orleans.

            House absentees on the vote on HB-76 were James Armes of Leesville, Dove, Noble Ellington of Winnsboro, Rickey Hardy of Lafayette, Lowell Hazel of Pineville, Nita Rusich Hutter of Chalmette, Charles “Chuck” Kleckley of Lake Charles, LaBruzzo, H. Bernard LeBas of Ville Platte, Nickie Monica of LaPlace, J. Kevin Pearson of Slidell, Erich Ponti of Baton Rouge, Gary Smith of Norco, Ricky Templet of Gretna, and Ernest Wooton of Belle Chasse.

            Only two senators did not vote up or down on HB-76. They were Daniel Martiny of Metairie and Joe McPherson of Woodworth.

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Who needs emergency funds when we got pork?

Posted in Budget, Golf Courses, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Politicians, Revenue, Transparency on July 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

            After all the hoopla in the State Capitol over legislators’ piling spending projects into HB-76, Gov. Bobby Jindal ended up vetoing only 32 of those projects, according to the eight-page veto message released by the governor’s office. That represents only 7.3 percent of the 438 individual spending projects.

            Legislators went on their annual spending spree, pouring $33 million in appropriations for local projects that included museums, sidewalks, water and sewer systems, automobile purchases, fire districts, recreational facilities, and even maintenance for a privately-owned cemetery. Jindal, who has consistently advocated restraint in reckless spending, however, could bring himself to slash only $1.8 million, or 5.5 percent, from the bill.

            Several legislators complained that Jindal was being vindictive in cutting expenditures in the districts of legislators who opposed parts of his legislative agenda this year, including an effort to open records in the governor’s office to public scrutiny. The governor’s vetoes, however, were no different than in other years with other governors. Some, however, felt the cuts could—and should—have been even deeper given the state’s dire economic forecasts.

            Appropriations that survived Jindal’s veto pen that may seem questionable included:

  • $150,000 for the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame and Museum in Winnfield;
  • $25,000 for economic development studies for an airport for Livingston Parish (the northern part of Livingston is only about 10 miles from Baton Rouge’s Ryan Airport);
  • $20,000 for fairground cattle fences in Vernon Parish;
  • $30,000 for rehabilitation of the privately owned J.S. Clark Cemetery in Ouachita Parish;
  • $250,000 for construction of an animal shelter in St. Charles Parish;
  • $250,000 to the city of Westwego for the Performing Arts Center;
  • $200,000 for Phase I of converting a high school gym to a community center in Marksville.

Jindal’s vetoes included the following projects:

  • $20,000 for the Eddie Robinson Museum in Grambling;
  • $75,000 for the Southern Forest Heritage Museum in Forest Hill;
  • $100,000 for the Louisiana Council on the Social Status of Black Boys and Men in New Orleans;
  • $40,000 for a grants program for festivals and cultural activities;
  • $50,000 for Kent House Historical Site;
  • $50,000 for Kent Plantation House;
  • $21,560 to add a left turn lane on Sharp Road in Baton Rouge;
  • $100,000 for the purchase of 1,461 beds at Winn Correctional Center;
  • $100,000 for the purchase of 1,461 beds at Allen Correctional Center
  • $75,000 for a nurse and a substance abuse counselor at J. Levy Dabadie Correctional Center;
  • $20,000 for the Rapides Children’s Advocacy Center;
  • $50,000 for repairs to the Lake End Park and Swamp Gardens in Morgan City;
  • $15,000 for the East Baton Rouge Parish School system;
  • $50,000 to install air filling equipment at a fire station in Algiers;
  • $10,000 each to the towns of Homer and Haynesville;
  • $300,000 to fund the Algiers Development District;
  • $45,000 for the Terrytown Volunteer Fire Department;
  • $300,000 for the City of New Orleans Westbank Redevelopment;
  • $82,000 for the City of Baton Rouge;
  • $6,000 for the Odyssey House of Louisiana, Inc. in New Orleans;
  • $50,000 for Camp Minden;
  • $30,000 for the City of Springhill for a portable generator;
  • $20,000 for street and water equipment for the Town of Cullen;
  • $20,000 to purchase a police car for the Town of Sarepta;
  • $15,000 each for Main Street Programs for the towns of Minden and Springhill;
  • $45,000 for infrastructure improvements for the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office;
  • $50,000 for cultural programs for the City of Alexandria;
  • $35,000 for sickle cell health care services for the City of Alexandria;
  • $7,500 for Kingsley House in LaPlace;
  • $25,000 for a walking track for the City of Cankton.

 

So, as the state continues down the slippery slope toward next year’s deficit projected to be $2 billion or $3 billion by this time next year, the legislature continues to earmark money already in short supply to fund charities, municipalities and parishes and other non-governmental organizations.

            The casual observer might wonder why lawmakers continue to spend like a drunken sailor while others could point out the difference is that a drunken sailor quits spending when he runs out of money.

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Gross Ignorance and the Louisiana Legislature

Posted in Budget, Civil Service, Education, Ethics, Golf Courses, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Politicians, Revenue, Transparency on July 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Gross Ignorance and the Louisiana Legislature

            In keeping with the imminent opening of the 2010 Louisiana legislative session on March 29, today’s civics lesson will consider the origins of the term gross ignorance.

            Anyone in commercial shipping, purchasing, or inventory knows that a gross is a dozen dozen, or 144. So how does that translate to gross ignorance and what could it possibly have to do with the approaching session?

            Simple. There are 144 members of the Louisiana Legislature. Next question.

            As of close of business on March 19, more than 1200 bills had been pre-filed for consideration in this year’s session. There likely will be hundreds more before the opening gavel. Many of these same bills pop up every year and are summarily killed in committee.

There are also many bills that overlap or which are redundant. And even as legislators deplore overcrowded conditions in the state’s prisons, each successive year finds a glut of bills by pro-law-and-order legislators seeking to impose stricter penalties on a wide range of crimes which, if passed, would—you guessed it—add to prison overcrowding.

Then there are the bills that are self-serving at best and inane at worst. But even the occasional bill that has merit might be misunderstood if one goes only by the summary provided by the House in the list of bills pre-filed so far. These are the ones we will look at today. Here are the verbatim summaries in italics, followed by my comments. You are free to write your own.

HB8: Provides for the disposal of noncontraband unclaimed property seized in certain criminal investigations. “You take the Rolex; I’ll take the BMW….”

            HB16: Provides for the certification of concealed handgun permit instructors. Why would we want to certify a concealed instructor?

            HB22: Deletes the requirement that all witnesses to the execution of a death sentence shall be Louisiana citizens. We believe Texans could learn from us.

            HB26: Creates the crime of simple battery during a parade. As opposed to, say, during an opera?

            HB101: Provides term limits for judges, district attorneys, and sheriffs. Some of those should be limited to zero terms.

            HB103: Creates the crime of unlawfully wearing clothing which exposes undergarments or certain body parts. About time someone criminalized bad taste. But you still can’t fix stupid.

            HB112: Creates the crime of obstructing a law enforcement officer. Obviously, this legislator has never watched COPS.

            HB133: Provides relative to the authority of members of the legislature to attend meetings of public bodies. Like maybe legislative committee meetings and floor sessions?

            HB135: Provides sanctions for frivolous appeals and writ applications. How about filing frivolous bills?

            HB149: Authorizes per diem for the members of the St. Helena Parish Tourist Commission. Has any tourist ever set foot in St. Helena Parish? On purpose?

            HB155: Allows a ticket to an athletic contest of an institution of higher education to be sold for more than face value in certain situations. Like when a legislator has a schedule conflict and wants to unload his primo tickets.

            HB159: Prohibits governing authorities from imposing civil fines for traffic violations without a vote of the people. This bill was withdrawn before its author was totally embarrassed.

            HB211: Allows off-road vehicles to be operated on state college and university streets. This would be right after the keg party at the frat house.

            HB212: Authorizes a federal judge to perform a marriage ceremony for a specified limited time period. Marriage ceremonies have always been too long anyway.

            HB256: Prohibits the Port of New Orleans from expanding its territorial jurisdiction. Like to, say, Dry Prong.

            HB257: Provides relative to academic tutoring for certain student athletes in public elementary and secondary schools. Elementary schools? Really?

            HB261: Re-creates the Department of State. Hillary will be happy to know this.

            HB270: Provides for additional tuition charges on a per-hour basis. Would a student get a rebate for cutting class?

            HB271: Creates the crime of illegally selling urine or adulterants to circumvent screening tests. A guy would hate do this only to learn that tests showed he was pregnant.

            HB296: Allows a public servant to accept certain gifts for customary social occasions. This would put civil servants on an equal footing with legislators who never gave up the gifts.

            HB298: Allows persons riding bicycles upon a roadway, which includes an improved shoulder, the option of riding on the improved shoulder. As opposed to the ditch?

            HB301: Grants the Louisiana Tax Commission the authority to manage its own budget, procurement, and general management and operational functions. Finally! The agency that takes our tax money is going to be trusted with handling its own finances. Beautiful.

            HB312: Allows minors at least 16 years of age to donate blood with parental consent. In our day, that was called discipline.

            HB320: Provides for the confiscation and destruction of a criminal instrument. That should take care of my neighbor’s guitar.

            HB348: Amends penalties imposed for a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Be careful, he’s armed.

HB350: Increases fine for seat belt violations. Just how does one go about violating a seat belt?

            HB356: Designates an overpass. Okay, it’s an overpass.

            HB361: Creates the crime of battery of a health care provider. See HB 26 above.

            HB364: Provides relative to the Horsemen’s Workers’ Compensation Program. Wait. What?

            HB369: Authorizes DOTD (Department of Transportation and Development) to use monies from the Transportation Trust Fund to fund ferries that are not connected to state roads. Everybody knows that in Louisiana, you have to be connected to get funded.

            HB372: Repeals provisions relative to speed limits on I-10 in St. Tammany Parish. What, are they also going to rename it Autobahn II?

            HB374: Limits fines imposed for traffic offenses captured by automated traffic enforcement systems. Guess who got busted?

            HB380: Provides for the definition of “rural hospital.” That would be a facility where Jethro Bodine is the brain surgeon and they use a real live Labrador for lab tests and a real live cat for CAT scans.

            HB396: Provides for changes to the Louisiana Underground Utilities and Facilities Damage Prevention Law. For starters, make the name shorter.

            HB419: Requires law enforcement officials to undergo training on the use of tasers. Aren’t they proficient enough already?

            HB421: Provides relative to the authority of a local school board to deny admission or readmission to school of certain students.

            HB422: Provides relative to children exempted from the compulsory school attendance law. That would be the students from HB421 above.

            HB469: Provides for additional processing fees relative to the expungement of arrest records. Okay, we’re gonna clear your record on that false arrest but it’s gonna cost you.

            HB470: Prohibits a person 70 years old or older from qualifying for elective office. You may want to take a hard look at those under 70 as well.

            HB496: Merges the Fertilizer Commission and the Louisiana Feed Commission. If there’s anything the legislature should know about, it’s fertilizer.

            HB529: Requires instruction with respect to sex education in public schools. Let’s not go there.

            HB566: Requires disclosure by certain officials of information relative to employment and appointment of campaign contributors. This could be a real sticky wicket.

            HB574: Prohibits certain pest control operators from providing services.

            HB609: Provides with respect to the crime of home invasion. Would this be the pest or the pest control operator from HB574?

            HB594: Provides for traffic regulation of intersection when traffic control signal is inoperative. There’s a law for that already; it’s called a four-way stop.

            HB606: Provides for the prohibition of swine running at large. There’s a joke there but it’s better left unsaid.

            HB636: Authorizes free and unhampered passage on the Tomey J. Doucet Bridge for certain emergency vehicles of the Town of Grand Isle. Have they actually been charging ambulances a fee? Must be where they got the idea for that toll booth scene in Blazing Saddles.

            HB647: Allows publicly owned fire trucks with fire apparatuses to use blue lights. Deep down, those guys have always wanted to be cops.

            HB689: Provides for fraudulent practices during an auction. If anyone would know how to provide for fraudulent practices, it would be the legislature.

            HB700: Exempts church camps from enforcement of building code standards. I see a problem with this. Seriously.

            HB705: Requires public entities to give preference to state banks. Are there any left?

            HB731: Provides a public records exception for certain confidential reports made to the Board of Ethics. Uh, wouldn’t that be unethical?

            HB770: Requires each public college and university to readmit its graduates, without charging tuition and fees, if such a graduate cannot find or looses employment because his degree did not prepare him for employment in a profession related to his degree. How about free tuition to legislators who don’t know the difference between the proper usages of looses and loses?

            HB779: Provides relative to the Horsemen’s Benevolent Program Association. Just what in the name of Beelzebub is the Horsemen’s Benevolent Program Association?

            HB827: Provides for changes for the disbursement of monies collected for the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. Them again? And this time it’s a protective association.

            HB859: Prohibits certain traffic cameras on highways that receive public funding. Someone else got busted.

            HB867: Provides for the reduction of a defendant’s sentence for substantial assistance in an investigation or prosecution. I’ll talk if you let me walk. What’s wrong with this picture?

            HB969: Provides relative to qualifications for election as a member on a school board. A high school diploma would be a good start.

            HB1010: Provides for alternate means of proof that paper is manufactured in the state. Say what?

            HB1086: Provides relative to an organ donation opt-out program. I want my Kidney back.

            HB1124: Requires notices of deficiencies. Uh, can you be just a bit vaguer?

            HB1130: Creates the Louisiana Performance Horse Promotion Act. Again with the horses already?

            HB1147: Prohibits a policyholder from allowing any person excluded from liability coverage to drive the covered vehicle.

            HB1148: Prohibits the exclusion of any person from coverage under a motor vehicle liability policy. The last two bills were authored by the same legislator.

            Now you understand the meaning and the origins of the term gross ignorance.

            We hope to offer lessons in political rationale and progressive legislative in the future, but that prospect remains in doubt.

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