Lawmakers point to wins in 2026 session

At a St. Mary Chamber of Commerce breakfast Wednesday, lawmakers representing the parish talked about bringing home the bacon.
State Sen. Robert Allain and state Reps. Vincent St. Blanc and Beryl Amedee appeared at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City for the Chamber’s annual post-session event.
This kind of bacon comes in the form of cash, capital outlay money or supplemental funding for local projects.
Allain, R-Franklin, spoke of obtaining $4.2 million, including funds for Morgan City Police Department communications, an upgrade for a Morgan City Fire Department ladder truck, new breathing apparatus for the Bayou L’Ourse Volunteer Fire Department, equipment for the Berwick Fire Department, dash cams for Berwick police and equipment for the Morgan City marshal.
The capital outlay budget included nearly $3 million for local water and sewer infrastructure.
His District 21 ranked in the top 10% of Senate districts in overall funding, cash and capital outlay funding.
“So we’re punching well above our weight,” Allain said.
Allain authored the bill that enacted the first recreational alligator hunting season, an attempt to manage a gator population estimated at 3 million to 3.5 million.
Also in the works are an effort to examine Minimum Foundation Program funding for schools and to coordinate drainage and pumping efforts so that one project doesn’t hurt other residents nearby.
The goal is to “take the politics out of pumping,” Allain said.
St. Blanc, R-Franklin, spoke about overall budget successes by the Legislature, including MFP funding, $420 million for early childhood education, a $500 million boost for roads and infrastructure, and $360 million for economic development.
He also praised efforts to tailor the TOPS program to the training needs of students who will enter the workforce without a traditional four-year college degree.
Other legislation eliminates the motor vehicle inspection requirement to be replaced by a system St. Blanc said has yet to be worked out. The Legislature also made it a crime to use artificial intelligence to produce child sex abuse material.
St. Blanc said his capital outlay wins included $60,000 for drainage in lower St. Martin, a move toward obtaining $3.5 million for a Yokely Road roundabout in Franklin, $8 million for the Port of Morgan City, and $150,000 toward the new station for Fire Protection District No. 11 in Sorrell.
There was $165,000 for emergency power at the Parish Courthouse, nearly $54,000 for water improvements in Baldwin, $439,000 for new water and gas meters in Patterson, and $400,000 of the $800,000 needed for improvements at Belle River’s water treatment plant.
Supplemental funding included money for the Soulfood and Lighthouse festivals, $10,000 for Baldwin police equipment and $30,000 for Morgan City’s Lake End Park.
Amedee, R-Houma, noted that $23.5 billion of the state’s $46.2 billion appropriations budget comes from the federal government with federal restrictions attached.
“I believe we need to work to correct that,” Amedee said.
Health care consumes 27% of the state general fund budget, a situation worsened by a high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes and obesity, and maternal health outcomes she called “horrible.”
“Those are things we can work on,” Amedee said. “Those are things that come from lifestyle choices.”
Amedee pointed to new laws targeting foreign adversaries or terrorist organizations. They include stiffer penalties for acts deemed to be terrorism; forbidding the use of expropriation by foreign adversaries while allowing expropriation of land owned by adversaries near military bases if it’s in the interest of public safety; and prohibiting state contracts for education services to go to foreign adversaries.
Other laws require peace officers to be citizens and make it a crime to obstruct a worship service.