Business group chief: La. needs business, not 'shutdown culture'

You've heard about cancel culture. On Tuesday, the president of Louisiana's top business lobby warned against shutdown culture.

"if we stay in this shutdown culture until the end of this year, and every couple of weeks we go back to the people and say, 'Sorry, too many cases. We need to shut down.' -- we're worried that when PPP runs out, we're going to lose a lot of service-based companies ...," said Stephen Waguespack, president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, at Wednesday's St. Mary Chamber luncheon in Morgan City.

PPP is the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal loan program for businesses that promise to keep workers on the payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waguespack's talk pointed out the dilemma Louisiana faced in June, when Gov. John Bel Edwards canceled his stay at home order and eased economic restrictions, and faces now during the coronavirus resurgence: What's the proper balance between public safety and economic security?

Waguespack argued that the situation is different now than in February and March,when COVID-19 emerged in Louisiana. Hospitals are no longer short of ventilators, personal protective equipment for health care workers is in good supply, and protective masks are available at the local drugstore, he said.

Businesses such as grocery and hardware stores have learned ways to keep their employees safe, Waguespack said, and schools can learn from those measures.

Louisiana has been slower to recover from COVID-19 lock-downs than other nearby states because the economy here is oriented toward services. And the state has been hit again by reduced demand for energy because of COVID's economic impact, he said. Only nine wells are producing offshore and only 20 in Louisiana, Waguespack said.

Louisiana needs people to drive here, fly here, eat at restaurants and have a good time, Waguespack said.

During hurricanes, the state sometimes sets up shelters where people can receive medical care, he said. "When the virus spread happens, to deal with the noncritical cases -- if we have to do that in order to open our schools and open our businesses, it's time to have the dialog, in our opinion. ...

"We think it's very important that we find a way to fight the health emergency," he said, "but also fight to open our economy pretty soon, because we can't depend on congressional dollars much longer."

The governor has said decisions about economic and other restrictions, including the current closure of bars, the mask mandate and crowd size limits, have been hard. But they're necessary because of the rapid spread of COVID and the need to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed, he said.

The pressure on hospital capacity, which led officials at Lafayette General and Our Lady of Lourdes to make a plea for compliance with mitigation measures recently, has eased in the last couple of weeks.

But beginning June 15, nearly two weeks after Edwards moved Louisiana into a Phase Two relaxation of some economic restrictions, the number of COVID-19 cases in Louisiana began a jump from more than 47,000 to the current 134,034, while the number of deaths rose from 2,906 to 4,238.

In St. Mary, the number of cases increased from 359 to 1,632 in the last two months, while the number of deaths rose from 33 to 55.

Edwards has blamed the resurgence of COVID cases not on economic reopening but on failure to comply with mitigation measures.

Also Tuesday, Waguespack praised the Legislature for improving Louisiana's business climate by making tough decisions during 2020 sessions complicated by the pandemic.

He pointed to legislation by state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, that offers franchise tax relief to businesses with less than $1 million in taxable assets.

The big win, Waguespack said, was the passage of a reform measure involving automobile crash lawsuits, a law that he said will help lower insurance premiums.

The deal worked out through months of wrangling and a veto lowers the damage threshold needed to be eligible for a jury trial; allows insurance status and seat belt use to be entered as evidence at trials; and puts a 40% cap on so-called phantom damages resulting from bills far in excess of the actual repairs required after a wreck.

The legislation will help prevent excessive damage awards that drive up insurance premiums, Waguespack said. And he said letters are going out to 800 out-of-state insurers, urging them to take another look at the litigation climate in Louisiana.

"If all of a sudden we start getting more competition in the market," Waguespack said, "that absolutely will lead to competition and lower rates for you, and it will absolutely lead to to more competition and lower rates for the commercial market."

Allain, who was present for the luncheon at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City, received more praise from Chip Kline, director of Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

Kline said Allain was helpful after an amendment came out of the House that would have hurt CPRA's funding.

Allain kept his word, Kline said.

"He took some licks for us at CPRA, licks he didn't have to take," Kline said.

Among the projects being funded by the CPRA is the Bayou Chene Flood Control Project, an $80 million effort that will create a permanent flood gate that can stop back-water flooding the affects at least five parishes.