Amedee updates parish council on year's sessions

State Rep. Beryl Amedee gave the St. Mary Parish Council an update on the state’s legislative sessions Wednesday.
“It’s a pleasure to be here,” she said. “In fact, it’s a pleasure to not be in Baton Rouge.”
There were three special sessions in addition to the regular session, she said, with budget issues the dominating feature.
The current state’s current budget stands at $33.9 billion, which Amedee said is the largest in history, including the years of Katrina relief funds.
“So I’d like to let you know what is included in this year’s budget,” she said.
She cited the Department of Health, including nursing homes, SNAP benefits, TOPS, higher education, non-public school assistance, district attorneys and assistant DAs, constables and justices of the peace, special schools and the local housing of state prisoners.
“So, in four legislative sessions in 2018…we raised $550 million,” she said. “At the beginning of the year the governor was requesting closer to $1.4 billion. But over the course of the year we argued and debated and certain things improved to the point where we could not justify (that amount.)”
Amedee said the administration submitted a proposed budget that “was not a sincere effort to fund anything. It was a propaganda tool that was designed to cause fear, outrage and panic. The propaganda has been shameful and the scare tactics obscene.
She said the federal income tax reform brought an increase of $302 million to the state budget; other sources of revenue emerged too:
—More than $64 million due to oil prices
—$150 million by making the 13th medical payment
—$47 million declared by the Department of Revenue from bonds, fees and penalties
—$57 million that the Department of Health declared “in the eleventh hour.”
And just after the session ended, it was learned that the Judiciary had $58 million in surplus “that they never mentioned to us through the budgeting process…the news report referred to it is ‘an unassigned fund balance.’”
There were also job positions that are funded but not filled, which Amedee said amounts to about $110 million that departments can now use.
There was also money “we just lose” she added.
The Department of Health’s portion of the budget is $14 billion, and she said as much as 10 percent could be lost to fraud, waste and abuse.
That could be $1.4 billion, she said.
“Any related measures that we managed to pass out of the house were either killed on the Senate side or became victim to the governor’s veto pen,” Amedee said. “It’s past time for a serious effort to tackle fraud, waste and abuse to service and benefits.”
“This year’s capital outlay budget is $3.6 billion,” Amedee said. “But the budget is still very similar to a child’s Christmas list because on our best day, with a growing economy, the most we can expect to spend this year is less than $300 million.”
DOTD will complete painting the Amelia bridge soon, with work on the bridge’s joints upcoming, Amedee said. The Atchafalaya bridge is set for a full rehabilitation, and the Berwick Bay bridge is scheduled for 2010.
A review of all dedicated funds will be tackled by a committee, which she serves on, to attempt reforming aspects of those funds.
Among bills passed during the regular session:
—Funding for K-12 education at $3.7 billion.
—Criminal hazing laws were passed to prevent harm to students; there is another bill that requires individuals to report serious bodily injury when drugs are involved.
—A pretrial diversion program for veterans that have been diagnosed with PTSD.
—A bill she sponsored allows a witness who is a minor or has a developmental disability to be accompanied by a “facility dog” when they testify in court as a victim.
—Parishes may decide if fantasy sports contests will be legal in their jurisdiction.
—Financial institutions may take action when they believe a person is attempting to financially exploit a customer who is 60 or older or covered by adult protective services.
—Nursing home residents may have remote cameras or other devices installed in their rooms.
—Louisiana has a 15 weeks gestational period for abortions.
—Insurance companies must create a director of their in-network health providers that is public and searchable and continually updated.
—Adults who are choosing a hearing aid can choose the one that suits them best and pay any difference in cost.
Constitutional amendments up for voter approval:
—Convicted felons may run for public office after five years, rather than 15.
—Unanimous jury verdicts in felony cases, rather 10-2 majorities. Murder or treason were already required to be unanimous.
—Permits donation or use of public equipment or personnel to state or political subdivisions.
—Remove the authority to fund the state police traffic control from the transportation trust fund.
—Senior citizens can have property taxes frozen. But surviving spouses of a military member, a law enforcement officer, a fire protection officer or first responder are exempt, unless remarried. A permanently disabled veteran may qualify to double homestead exemption. If passed, the property is eligible even if not in the person’s name.
—Allow for a phased-in increase in property taxes if any reappraisal of residential property by more than 50 percent that results in an increase in tax must be phased in over a four year period, with no further appraisal.
Amedee concluded that the legislature will be looking for more money in the budget in line with that already discovered, push for fiscal reform, cap budget growth, possible increase income and gasoline taxes.
Medicaid expansion accounts for 22 cents goes to the program, and 41 percent by the end of the year. “We have our work cut out for us,” she said.
Also Wednesday:
—Ordinances were introduced amending and re-enacting the 2018 Combined Budgets of Revenues and Expenditures; providing policies and procedures for districts, agencies, boards and commissions, delegating certain governmental functions; amending all ordinances relating to board members, commission members and advisory board members for qualifications, filling vacancies, reporting requirements to the parish council, meeting rules and rules and requirements and establishing enforcement and providing penalties for violation; amending to redefine and revise the representatives appointed to the 911 board; amending the home rule charter to provide for “the salary of the president shall be 65 percent of the average of the annual salaries of the St. Mary Parish sheriff, assessor and clerk of court”; and setting the council salaries at $800 per month for single-member and $1,200 per month for at-large member.
—Resolutions of respect in memory of former parish police jury and council member Harold “Neg” Louviere and former Morgan City Chief of Police Junius Joseph Crochet were passed.