[StBernard] Ensuring our communities are safe

[Westley Annis]

April 1, 2007	 
 	 
Dear friends,

Ensuring our communities are safe

I coauthored a bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives this
week that will help law enforcement agencies better serve the rural areas of
Louisiana.

Rural law enforcement agencies in Louisiana face a difficult challenge in
ensuring that officers have up-to-date training, while also dealing with
tight budgets and small staffs. Too often, our law enforcement agencies are
forced to choose between training opportunities and keeping officers on the
street. That is why I am spearheading an effort in Congress to create a
special, rural-focused law enforcement training institute to help rural law
enforcement agencies receive cutting-edge training without sacrificing
public safety in our state.

The residents of our state rely on our local law enforcement agencies to
keep them protected. Yet for too long, government bureaucrats in Washington,
D.C. have failed to recognize the problems our rural agencies face due to
less federal funding at a time when we are asking the local agencies to take
on new homeland security responsibilities and to continue to fight the war
on drugs.

In Louisiana, we have seen a drastic increase in crime and methamphetamine
drug trafficking in our rural communities, and we have to do more to ensure
that our rural communities are trained to fight these battles. My
legislation will allow us to increase training capabilities without reducing
manpower on the streets; a win/win situation for our rural communities. My
bill specifically requires the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to
conduct training in the rural areas that will be supported by my
legislation, and also provides special training to fight the methamphetamine
epidemic in our state. As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee,
I have been fighting to have the committee prioritize the needs of our rural
communities, and my bill will force them to do just that. The Homeland
Security Committee voted in support of this provision this week, and will
now send the overall bill to the full House of Representatives.

Protecting our critical infrastructure

This week, I successfully offered an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008
Department of Homeland Security Authorization bill that will require the
Department to report the analysis of threat, vulnerability, and consequence
of a terrorist attack on our levee systems. My amendment makes clear that
the Department must consider levees as part of our national critical
infrastructure as it works to defend our country against natural and manmade
threats.

The response following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita showed just how
unprepared our country was for disasters of such large magnitudes, and my
amendment will help fix this problem in the future. In Louisiana we have
already learned the devastation that results when levees fail, and we must
continue working to ensure that this never happens again.

I was also able to secure two provisions in the overall bill that will
enhance disaster medical treatment and strengthen incident management. The
first will help identify and deploy medical personnel and supplies in
preparation for, or response to, national disasters and catastrophes. It
will also enable medical personnel to have access to patient electronic
medical records in order to aid treatment of displaced persons.

The other provision that I included will develop a real-time system that
verifies and validates what assets - people, equipment, supplies, volunteer
teams - are available in order to meet the needs on the ground, even when
the information supplied is coming from incompatible databases. It is
absolutely necessary that medical personnel and our first responders have
the appropriate access to the information they need in order to do their
jobs following a catastrophe.

The overall bill passed the Homeland Security Committee, and will now be
sent to the full House for a vote.

Fighting for a safe Louisiana

Last week, I told you about an important bill that I am spearheading in
Congress to ensure that government bureaucrats use common sense when
rebuilding our state. I authored a provision that successfully passed the
House of Representatives that gives priority to law-abiding residents
returning to our state and makes public housing safer for everyone.

I wanted to share a story with you that a local television station did this
week about my important provision to protect the residents of our state. To
read more about this important issue, click here.

Working for Louisiana farmers

Last week, I had the opportunity to be the guest speaker at the Iberville
Parish Annual Farm Bureau banquet in White Castle. I had a great time
visiting with the local farmers, and discussing the ways that we can work
together to ensure that Louisiana agriculture programs are protected. And
this weekend, I am looking forward to stopping by the St. James Parish Farm
Bureau meeting to talk about the Farm Bill that Congress is working on that
could impact farmers and ranchers throughout our state.

Looking forward to a Tiger win!

I want to wish the LSU Lady Tigers basketball team the best of luck as they
take on Rutgers University in the NCAA Final Four this weekend. These young
women have proven to be a dominating factor for the last four years, and my
family and I are excited to see what magic they can work this weekend!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and feel free to contact my office if
we can be of any assistance to you.

Sincerely, 
Bobby