[StBernard] Levee Board Bill

[Westley Annis]

Editors Note: To talk directly to a Representative or Senator, contact the
House switchboard (225-342-6945) or the Senate switchboard (225-342-2040). 

Rep. Ken Odinet's District Office information:
DISTRICT OFFICE ADDRESS
127 Hwy. 22 East
Suite S7
Madisonville, LA 70447
(985)845-1205
(985)845-3052 (Fax)

To find out who represents the area you are currently residing, for those
still in Louisiana:
http://www.legis.state.la.us/district/zipcode.asp

-----Original Message-----

Dear Westley,

Thanks for writing in re: the levees bill by Senator Boasso (SB 95).
Walter's working as we speak on his address to the House committee for
SB 95's passage.  So, to respond for him, the best way to answer your
inquiries about the importance of the bill and reasons why Rep. Odinet
is against it (other than you contacting Rep. Odinet directly for his
opinions), is to provide the explanatory excerpts from the bill's recent
coverage as reported by the Times-Picayune.

* * * * *

Bold bill is the surprise survivor of Legislature's special session 
Saturday, November 19, 2005
By Ed Anderson and Robert Travis Scott
Capital bureau 

BATON ROUGE -- A proposal to unite several New Orleans area levee boards
has become the surprise of the current special lawmaking session, riding
with business support to an unexpected triumph in the Senate while
threatening to overshadow a levee initiative by the governor. 

Vying for the title as the most aggressive government overhaul law of
the session, the legislation by Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Arabi, faces a
tough battle in the House as local interests, political opponents and
even government watchdog groups that normally favor levee reform are
finding fault with the bill. 

And time is short. The session devoted to hurricane recovery will end at
6 p.m. Tuesday. 

Boasso concedes his bill will "have a tough time in the House" because
some lawmakers will want to keep the patronage-heavy boards intact, and
others are opposed to mergers and consolidation, fearing a loss of local
input. 

"I am not giving up," the pugnacious Boasso said, promising to bring the
bill back in the March regular session -- or sooner -- if it dies now. 

Senate Bill 95 would create an 11-member Southeast Louisiana Levee
Authority with flood control duties that currently are the
responsibility of separate levee district boards for Orleans, east
Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. It also would
incorporate a newly created St. Tammany Levee District. 

Boasso's bill is backed by the Business Council of New Orleans and the
River Region, which has hired top lobbyists to generate support for its
agenda in the Legislature. The council argues that the Orleans Levee
Board is an embarrassment of political patronage and that the state's
fragmented levee district system sends a message to leaders in
Washington that federal money on levee improvements will not be well
spent. 

So the Boasso bill, in the council's opinion, has become a litmus test
of whether Louisiana is serious about post-storm recovery. Many New
Orleans businesses, including some that have taken refuge in Houston
since the storm, are weighing their future in the city with an eye on
whether the levees can be made safe without unnecessary delay. 

Under Boasso's bill, members of the regional board would include
representatives of the East Jefferson Levee District; the Lake Borgne
Levee District, which controls levees in St. Bernard Parish; and the
flood control portion of the Orleans Levee District. It also would
include the Plaquemines Parish Levee District, an arm of parish
government. It recreates the St. Tammany Levee District, and exempts the
West Jefferson Levee District and the portion of the Orleans Levee
District that deals with nonflood matters, such as land leases, two
marinas and Lakefront Airport. 

A Senate amendment orchestrated by Sens. Francis Heitmeier, D-Algiers,
and Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, assured that the Orleans Levee Board
would survive with a large amount of autonomy over nonflood-control
issues. 

The bill abolishes the East Jefferson and Lake Borgne board; allows the
Orleans board to exist without levee functions; and gives the control of
a new St. Tammany Levee District to the new superboard with the
authority to impose up to a 5-mill property tax. The Plaquemines board
cannot be abolished because it is a part of local government. 

The separate districts, each with taxing authority, would remain in
place. But the district boards would be abolished, ceding power over
flood-control projects to the new authority and pooling the tax revenue.


Existing levee boards should be abolished, Boasso said, because "they
have to do with the damn politics, not the people." 

Boasso's bill is tentatively set to be heard Monday morning by the House
Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works, but could be
heard as early as Sunday night. 


* * * * *

Shifting populations force restructuring 
Monday, November 14, 2005
By Frank Donze
Staff writer 

No one expects change to come easily. 

Louisiana's loose-knit system of levee districts dates back to the dawn
of statehood, when it was seen as a way to spread the cost of
construction and maintenance from the shoulders of individual waterfront
landowners to everyone who benefited from flood protection. 

Critics of the current system say the idea was right for a time when
state government lacked the financial and technical ability to provide
flood protection and flood-prone communities struggled to stave off
disaster. But during the past century, levee boards have evolved into
miniature governments that answer only to the governor. 

Any change in how levee boards operate requires a constitutional
amendment. A two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature would be
needed, and the measure then would go to a statewide vote. 

And local opposition is sure to be stiff. When the governor floated the
concept weeks ago, many parish-level levee officials cried foul, saying
no one will look out for local interests better than local board
members. Yielding to state and national levee priorities might leave
them unprotected. 

"I don't want to consolidate it with anything that has to do with the
state, that's for darn sure," said state Rep. Kenneth Odinet, D-Arabi,
voicing a sentiment heard from many local officials. 

State Treasurer John Kennedy said the nay-saying is inevitable as state
and local governments begin to tamper with timeworn traditions. But in
the wake of Katrina, he said, elected officials must behave like a
family after the breadwinner loses a job. 

"If Dad gets laid off, you postpone the trip to Disneyland," he said.
"What makes government different? 

"We need to put aside the parochial interests and the personal
interests. There is no pixie dust. The fairy godmother died." 

* * * * *

So, there you have it, Westley, and faithful members logged into
Da-Parish.com . . . .   

Walter's bill is a solid proposal against the status quo in terms of our
levee districts.  With the life-changing effects of Hurricane Katrina
upon us, Walter's vision is one of meaningful change, and to paraphrase
one of his always-quotable quotes:  The last words of a dying business
are, "We always did it that way".

Here's our region's chance to implement true change in how our system
affords us levee protection,

Sincerely,

Kenny Tucker, legislative assistant
To Senator Walter J. Boasso
Louisiana State Senate District 1