Legislative recap by Rep. Perry
Keeping his promise to the Vermilion Parish Police jury, Rep. Jonathan Perry re-capped the 85-day legislative session at a recent meeting.
“I told you that I would come back and report to the governmental bodies, so I’ll make it as quick as possible.”
With the multitude of laws, appropriations and reforms, Rep. Perry feels it is imperative to share the information from a legislator’s point of view.
“In my opinion, one of the greatest things that happened in the session is actually a constitutional amendment that cannot be vetoed,” Perry stated.
Severance tax allocations were increased to individual parishes. Vermilion Parish will receive first from $850,000 to $1,850,000 effective July 1, 2009 and then from $1,850,000 to $2,850,000, effective July 1, 2010.
A severance tax is a tax due the state on oil or gas produced or “severed” from the earth.
Starting with the numbers, the state operating budget for 2008-09 is at $29.9 billion broken down as:
• $15 billion federal dollars
•$9.1 billion in State General Fund (SGF)
• Replaces $420 million one-time funding in DHH with recurring SGF
• Provides Higher Education with $61 million increase in SGF
• Provides $90 million in normal growth for the Minimum Foundation Program
• Provides $6.5 million for 50 additional State Police troopers
• Provides $3.9 million school salary supplement for speech-language pathologists, audiologists and social workers
There is also $4.7 billion for the state construction budget.
Starting with the session the lawmakers focused on workforce development measures. These new laws transforms the Dept. of Labor into the Louisiana Workforce Commission, creates the Workforce Investment Council as the state workforce investment board and creates an inmate rehabilitation and workforce development program to provide eligible inmates with job skill training and a work release program.
Another milestone for residents of Louisiana is the repeal of the Stelly Tax.
Effective Jan. 1, 2009 the status will go back to pre-2002 with an abolition of sales tax on necessary items.
Insurance was also an important issue to the taxpayers of the state.
The reforms are as follows:
• Motor vehicle liability insurance minimums increase to 15-30-25 from 10-20-10, effective Jan. 1, 2010.
• Health insurance policies are required to include at least a $50 thousand coverage for prosthetic devices and are to provide autism treatments for children.
• Regional or “zone” homeowner deductible up to four percent for “named storms” on homeowner policies of over three years.
• Insure Louisiana Incentive Program Fund states that unspent funds will be re-directred after third round of grants, if greater than $35 million remains, funds will be credited to policy holders’ premiums, and if less than $35 million remains, funds will be used to offset state retirement system shortfall.
Ethics
In addition to the ethics reform measures that have highly publicized, the following were passed in reference to ethics:
Prohibitions
• false statements by candidates
• push polls containing false information
• deceptive caller ID information
Boards and Commissions
• term limits for executive branch boards and commissions
• appointed boards and commission members allowed to recuse themselves in conflict of interest matters
Complaints to Board of Ethics
• Anonymous complaints no longer investigated
• identity of a person filing an ethics complaint revealed to the accused
Another important issue is that of financial disclosure.
The end of the session came with the passage of a law that creates a new level of disclosure for certain boards and commissions.
“I know this has been a big deal,” Perry told the jurors.
He stated that the best way to find out if a board or commission falls under the new regulations is to contact his office with each name of the board or commission in question. He will then research and get the answer.
“The problem is that each case is different, so it has to be submitted individually to get the information.”
If anyone has questions, Rep. Perry can be contacted at 407 Charity Street Suite 102, Abbeville, LA 70510 or (337) 893-5035 and (337) 898-1160 (Fax).