Edwards: Focus is on ECE in coming session

GRAY — Gov. John Bel Edwards set out his legislative priorities, including early childhood education funding and more money for K-12 and higher education, at a joint Chamber of Commerce luncheon Tuesday.
The St. Mary Chamber was a host for the event, along with the Houma-Terrebonne, Lafourche and Thibodaux Chambers at the Cypress Columns Restaurant in Gray.
Republicans have a different set of priorities topped by tort reform.
Democrat Edwards said that while the president and Congress may be wrapped up in partisanship, the parties can still work together in the Louisiana Legislature.
“It’s still possible,” Edwards said. “That’s how we work in Baton Rouge.”
Edwards said his administration has stabilized a state budget that had a projected $2 billion shortfall soon after his election in 2015. The state has the fourth-fastest growth in gross domestic product in the nation, and the state has attracted $42 billion in new capital investment, he said.
And economic development wins have occurred in 52 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes, the governor said.
In the Bayou region, the $80 million Bayou Chene project is under way in St. Mary, with benefits for surrounding parish.
Coastal restoration work in Terrebonne and other parishes will bring in billions.
“There’s still work to do,” Edwards said. “My goal is to make Louisiana the most job-ready workforce in the nation.”
Edwards was set Tuesday to see the laying of the keel for the Gilbert Mason research vessel, one of three being built for the National Science Foundation at Gulf Island Fabrication in Houma. The Edwards administration’s proposed capital projects budget included $36 million for the Pelican research vessel. The Houma-Terrebonne airport is in line to become a center of excellence for automated aircraft based on its status as one of the world’s busiest heliports.
The governor didn’t talk Tuesday about one of the priorities he put for-ward at a Baton Rouge Press Club appearance Monday: a raise in the state’s minimum wage.
He spoke Monday about his support for phased increase in the minimum wage to $10 an hour.
“We’ve fallen behind too far for too long in Louisiana,” Edwards told the reporters.
He was also silent Tuesday about one of the key local issues in last year’s governor’s race: Edwards’ support for lawsuits filed by parish governments and other entities against energy companies over damage to Louisiana’s coast.
In Edwards’ first year in office, he was quoted in the press as urging all coastal parishes to join the lawsuits. And if they didn’t, he said, the state would.
By the 2019 campaign, Edwards was saying he was merely supporting the right of the parishes to sue, while Republican opponents Ralph Abraham and Eddie Rispone declared the governor to be an enemy of the energy industry.
Rispone won a runoff spot against Edwards in the Nov. 16 general election and beat the incumbent 55%-45% in St. Mary Parish and 64%-36% in Terrebonne.