Louisiana Voice

When attempting to ferret out the hidden costs of state government, one can quickly become board, as in more than 500 boards and commissions—complete with more than 6,000 members.

Alabama, which has 250,000 more people than Louisiana, according to the 2010 Census, has only 25 boards and commissions. Texas, with five times Louisiana’s population, makes do with 110 though it, too, has a glut of education boards with 11.

But back to Louisiana where individual board and commission membership ranges from as few as two to as many as 164.

Sheer logistics makes compiling even a rough cost estimate for office space, utilities, member per diem and mileage payments, or staff salaries virtually impossible. There is, however, sufficient evidence of overlap and duplication to warrant scrutiny, especially in the face of budgetary shortfalls predicted to be as much as $1.6 billion for the coming fiscal year.

There are the usual suspects: the education and retirement boards.

Louisiana somehow has always seen fit to have several education boards:

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), the LSU Board of Supervisors; the Board of Regents for Higher Education; the University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors; the Southern University Board of Supervisors, and more recently, the Community and Technical Colleges Board of Supervisors.

So, why do LSU and Southern warrant their own separate boards? Why is there a need for both a University of Louisiana board (formerly the Board of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities) and a Board of Regents? No one has ever answered that question but each has its very own office space, board members, and staff.

But wait. While much has said about those boards, Louisiana also has the Academic Advisory Council; the Adult Learning Task Force; the Education Estimating Conference (how does one estimate education?); the Louisiana High School Redesign Commission; the Local Education Governance and Administration Task Force, and the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) Advisory Board.

Or, how about the Municipal Employees’ Retirement System Board of Trustees; the Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System Board of Trustees; the School Employees’ Retirement System Board of Trustees; the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System Board of Trustees; the State Police Retirement Fund, and the Public Retirement Systems’ Actuarial Committee? And just what is the difference between the Louisiana Retirement Development Commission and the Commission on Public Retirement?

The legalization of gambling in Louisiana produced another whole line of boards. We have the Louisiana Gaming Control Board; the Louisiana State Lottery Corporation Board of Directors; the Louisiana State Racing Commission; the Bossier Parish Pari-Mutuel Live Racing Facility Economic Redevelopment and Gaming Control Board; the Calcasieu Parish Pari-Mutuel Live Racing Facility Economic Redevelopment and Gaming Control Board, and the St. Landry Parish Pari-Mutuel Live Racing Facility Economic Redevelopment and Gaming Control Board.

Then we have the Louisiana Children’s Cabinet; the Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board; the Children’s Cabinet Research Council; The Louisiana Children’s Trust Fund; the Child Care and Development Block Grant Advisory Council; the Louisiana Advisory Committee on Licensing of Child Care Facilities and Child Placing Agencies; the Child Death Review Panel; the Commission on Peri-natal Care and Prevention of Infant Mortality; the Governor’s Advisory Council on Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities, and the Select Committee on Women and Children.

Under the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, there are a multitude of boards and commissions. These include:

The Agriculture Finance Authority; the Agricultural Commodities Commission; the State Market Commission; the Louisiana Feed Commission; the Louisiana Fertilizer Commission; the Louisiana Forestry Commission; the Livestock Sanitary Board; the Livestock Brand Commission; The Dairy Industry Promotion Board; the Dairy Stabilization Board; the Aquaculture Coordinating Council; the Aquatic Chelonian (turtle) Research and Promotion Board; Oyster Task Force; the Oyster Lease Damage Evaluation Board; the Fur and Alligator Advisory Council; the Identity Task Force of Seafood Standards; the Catfish Promotion Board; the Louisiana Pork Promotion Board; the Sweet Potato Advertising and Development Commission; the Louisiana Egg Commission; the Rice Promotion Board, and, of course, the Rice Research Board.

And how could we ever forget the Boll Weevil Eradication Commission?

In sheer numbers, however, none can top the various levee, port, and sundry water boards and commissions. How could we ever function without them?

Check ’em out:

The Bayou DeSiard Lake Restoration Commission; the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District; the Lafourche Basin Levee District Board of Commissioners; the Capital Area Groundwater Conservation District Board of Commissioners; the Cane Waterway Commission; the Ground Water Resources Commission; the Ground Water Management Conservation District Board of Directors; the Groundwater Management Advisory Task Force; the Morehouse Parish Lake Commission; the Poverty Point Reservoir District Board of Commissioners; the West Ouachita Parish Reservoir Commission; the Allen Parish Reservoir District Board of Commissioners; the Washington Parish Reservoir Commission; the White Lake Property Advisory Board; the Bayou D’arbonne Watershed District Commission; the Sparta Groundwater Conservation District; the Amite River Basin Drainage and Water Conservation District Board of Commissioners; the Waterways Infrastructure Bank Board of Directors; the Southern Louisiana Drinking Water Study Commission; the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District Board of Commissioners; the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District Board of Commissioners; the Millennium Port Authority; the South Tangipahoa Parish Port Commission; the Greater Ouachita Port Commission; the Krotz Springs Port Commission; the Port of Greater Baton Rouge; the Port of New Orleans Board of Commissioners; the Red River Port Commission; the Red River Compact Commission; the Red River Development Council; the Red River Waterway Commission; the Red River; Atchafalaya and Bayou Boeuf Levee District Board of Commissioners; the Red River Levee Drainage District Board of Commissioners; the Sabine River Authority Board of Commissioners; the Sabine River Compact Administration; the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East; the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority West; the Morgan City; Berwick Port Pilot Commissioners and Examiners; the River Port Review and Oversight Board; the River Port Pilot Commissioners and Examiners for Port Fouchon Board; the River Port Pilot Commissioners and Examiners Board (Calcasieu); the River Port Pilots for the Calcasieu Bar; Pass; and Main Ship Channel to Lake Charles Orange; Texas Board; the River Port Pilot Commissioners for the Port of New Orleans Board; the River Port Pilots for the Intracoastal Canal; the New Orleans and Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Association; the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Examiners for the Mississippi River Board; the Lafourche Basin Levee District Board of Commissioners; the North Lafourche Conservation Levee and Drainage District; the South Lafourche Levee District Board of Commissioners; the Lafitte Area Independent Levee District; the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District Board of Commissioners; the Bossier Levee District Board of Commissioners; the North Bossier Levee District Board the Caddo Levee District Board of Commissioners; the East Jefferson Levee District Board of Commissioners; the Fifth Louisiana Levee District Board of Commissioners; the Pontchartrain Levee Board; the Board of Levee Commissioners of the Orleans Levee District; the Nineteenth Louisiana Levee District Board of Commissioners; the St. Mary Levee District Board of Commissioners; the Natchitoches Levee and Drainage District Board of Commissioners; and the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District Board of Commissioners.

Thank goodness the state took steps to merge redundant levee boards after Hurricane Katrina.

But just for good measure, we have the:

• Aviation and Military Museum of Louisiana Board of Directors;
• Military Hall of Fame and Museum Governing Board of Directors;
• Military Museum Governing Board;
• Kenner Naval Museum Commission;
• Governor’s Military Advisory Board;
• Military Advisory Commission;
• Military Family Assistance Board;
• Veterans Affairs Commission;
• Louisiana Diabetes Advisory Council;
• Louisiana Diabetes Initiative Council;
• Joint Legislative Juvenile Justice Commission;
• Governor’s Advisory Board of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention;
• Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission;
• Florida Parishes Juvenile Justice Commission;
• Task Force on Legal Representation in Child Protection Cases;
• Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Policy Board;
• Life Safety and Property Protection Advisory Board;
• Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice;
• Law Enforcement Executive Management Institute Board;
• Louisiana State Police Commission;
• Louisiana Sentencing Commission
• Pardon Board;
• Parole Board;
• Louisiana Commission on Uniform State Laws;
• Forensic Strategic Task Force;
• Domestic Violence Law Enforcement Training Task Force;
• Governor’s Task Force on DWI-Vehicular Homicide;
• Homeland Security Advisory Council;
• State Council for Interstate Adult Offender Supervision;
• Louisiana Law Institute;
• National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics;
• Council on Peace Officer Standards and Training;
• Interagency Council on Prevention of Sex Offenses;
• Sexual Assault Task Force;
• Eastern New Orleans Interstate Oversight Commission;
• Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission;
• Senate Select Committee for Oversight of Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission;
• Louisiana Byways Commission;
• Manchac Parkway Commission;
• Mississippi River Parkway Commission;
• Mississippi River Road Commission;
• Mississippi River Bridge Authority;
• Crescent City Connection Oversight Commission;
• Highway 1 Task Force;
• I-49 North Extension Feasibility and Funding Task Force;
• I-49 South Project Task Force;
• Ouachita Expressway Authority;
• River Parishes Transit Authority;
• Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission;
• Incentives for New Ventures and Economic Stimulation (INVEST) Commission;
• Louisiana Investment in Infrastructure for Economic Prosperity Commission;
• Louisiana Economic Development Corporation;
• Economic Estimating Conference;
• North Louisiana Economic Development Board;
• Louisiana Prosper Commission;
• Small Business Entrepreneurship Commission;
• Louisiana Workforce Commission;
• Louisiana Workforce Investment Council;
• Occupational Forecasting Conference;
• Greater New Orleans Biosciences Economic Development District Board of Commissioners;
• Legislative Budget Control Council
• Revenue Estimating Conference;
• Small Business Task Force;
• Small Business Compliance Advisory Panel;
• Solution to Poverty Network Council;
• Southern Growth Policies Board;
• Workforce Competitiveness Task Force;
• Louisiana Commission on Marriage and Family;
• Life Management and Marriage and Relationship Skills Course Study Task Force;
• Marriage/Family Therapy Advisory Committee

All this has given me a migraine so if you will excuse me, I think I’ll go lie down now. There’s probably a board or commission or a study task force for that.

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