LA SNAP changes to help most poor, taxpayers

Louisiana may have whiffed on one kind of food stamp policy, but starting next month as a consolation prize it looks to emulate the rest of the south on another kind that will save taxpayer dollars and stimulate economic growth.

 This spring, state executive branch officials wisely planned to opt out of an expansion of school meals program hawked by the federal government to include cash payments during the summer. Unfortunately, the Legislature blinked and mandated it, costing the state several million dollars to add already to generous Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits for families with children.

But, fortunately, legislators (in practice, Republicans) came through with Act 308. The law, which takes effect at the beginning of next month, disallows the state from seeking exceptions from SNAP waivers in regards to able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), where the program requires some hours of work, volunteering, or studying in order to draw, depending upon income level for a single individual, as much as about $10 a day for unprepared food.

Lawfare impeding beneficial LA LNG project

Believers in the faith-based, evidence-free theory of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming continue to try to make life worse especially for the poor and threatens national security through sitzkrieg tactics, picking up a judicial ally for an agenda that generally harms Louisianans even more.

It all began several years ago when political, technological, and economic conditions made the time right for America to export liquified natural gas. This started a process that led to construction and operation of LNG terminals that helped to send a lower-cost energy source to places around the world to help particularly people in poorer parts of the world, to assist allies in accessing energy instead of buying from more hostile states, and to provide economic expansion for Americans.

Louisiana ended up a big beneficiary of this, with construction of facilities on the state’s southwestern coast that provided jobs there and upstream where the gas is collected and piped south. In just a few short years now with America becoming the world’s largest LNG exporter, markets continue to favor expansion of this.

BC councilors channel their inner George Wallace

In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this Council, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of the people, and I say no term limits now, no term limits tomorrow, no term limits forever.

That’s the message that Bossier City Councilors Republicans David Montgomery and Vince Maggio and Democrat Jeff Darby sent when they voted – again – to violate the city’s Charter by failing to permit consideration of a measure to place on the Dec. 7 ballot two term limits measures. This was nothing new, as over and over again they had violated the charter and their oaths of office in the process on the matter of calling such an election several times over the past year or so, as the Charter mandates the Council do so upon certification of a petition to amend the Charter. The petition forwards a pair of propositions that places a retroactive lifetime three-term limit on holding the mayor’s office and city councilor spots.

But something new this time, in emulating Democrat Alabama Gov. George Wallace’s efforts to resist court orders regarding desegregation over six decades ago that featured an inaugural address attacking it and months later briefly physically blocking integration at the University of Alabama, was that Montgomery, Maggio, and Darby deliberately defied a court order issued last week mandating that the Council follow the Charter and pass a resolution permitting the State Bond Commission to move forward. The SBC approves of the items and then sends them to the Secretary of State for ballot inclusion.

Competing Monroe agendas call for compromising

Monrovians can look forward to an awkward dance between independent Mayor Friday Ellis and the Democrat-majority City Council over the next four years, if the current state of their relationship holds.

To say it’s been a rocky beginning isn’t an understatement. Since old hands in elected office but new councilors Democrats Rodney McFarland and Verbon Muhammad have taken office, joining with holdover Democrat Juanita Woods they have shifted the Council into a more combative posture than what Ellis experienced in his initial term in office. That last term, Ellis succeeded in swaying what then also was a Democrat-run council to support him on a number of big-ticket items.

Not so in the opening weeks of this term with an increasing roll call of dustups, where on a number of issues the new members were like Jacks-in-Boxes popping up to oppose whatever the Ellis Administration proposed – bond election, new purchasing rules, appointments, capital outlay spending – sometimes instituting delays, other times attempting to overrule. They constantly have complained that they aren’t consulted with enough and/or southside Monroe, where theirs and Woods’ districts are, doesn’t receive enough attention, especially in the form of dollars. Even when they go along with an administration-backed request, it has been like pulling teeth to get it to happen, as in the case of opening bids on an emergency project in Republican Councilor Doug Harvey’s district that Muhammad held up as an example of Ellis disregarding the southside.

Caddo again mulls destructive minimum wage hike

Economic dunderheads all, Caddo Parish commissioners look to compound a mistake that will set back hopes of parish economic development.

In August, the Commission followed the lead of some Louisiana governments, including Shreveport, that have raised their minimum wages above the state level to pass an ordinance doing the same, in this case $15 an hour which is more than double the state’s. It applies at present only to what the parish pays its employees, to take effect at the start of next year.

Discussion on the matter actually began in February in a committee. Rookie Democrat Commissioner Greg Young spearheaded the move, which he characterized as one that addressed economic and crime concerns, in that by taking more tax dollars and/or reducing services in other areas to meet the increased personnel costs employees below the $15 level brought them closer to a “living wage” and that would reduce poverty and therefore the temptation to commit crime.

LA may need to counter further progressive DAs

Louisiana state senators performed a valuable service by public vetting of a rogue prosecutor’s action where he substituted his own agenda in place of the state’s Constitution and criminal code.

This week, the Senate Judiciary C Committee held a hearing concerning post-conviction relief. This is a legal procedure where a convict can have a sentence reduced or even a conviction overturned by a claim of factual innocence combined with corroborating evidence, or by verification of some kind of legal impairment in the case. Time constraints apply except under circumstances such as new or review of old evidence or DNA testing results and the like.

The issue didn’t raise much attention until three years ago. Until then, such cases occasionally cropped up, but then two things happened. First, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional non-unanimous jury results and ordered the two states allowing these, one being Louisiana, to set up a review process for all people convicted this way which created 1,500 or so potential reviews. The state did so and set a one-year time limit on petitioning.

Reject excessive Bossier JP, constable request

This month’s first meeting of the Bossier Parish Police Jury featured a remarkable role reversal concerning the issue of justice of the peace and constable pay, with a longtime advocate of smaller government arguing for the opposite and a more recent advocate of expansive government hinting at a tapping of the brakes on that – and rightly so.

The Jury allows for general comments from the public on any subject prior to tackling its business, and availing himself of that was Republican Justice of the Peace Bill Shelton, who serves District 1 (there are five districts total, 1 and 3-6 where two serve 3 and 6 to make for seven officials; 2 is Bossier City with its own city court and marshal). He said he spoke on behalf of all seven JPs and constables (each JP, which is elective, also has a constable elected who carries out the JPs orders), who collectively wanted a pay raise. Shelton observed that the parish paid out $300 a month to each, implying a total taxpayer expense of $50,400 annually, and said these officers had to pay for office, patrol, and enforcement expenses and didn’t want to “go broke” over performing their duties.

Thus, he argued (there was some confusion over the exact amount) for salaries to double, pointing to other jurisdictions that paid much higher and noting that this amount hadn’t increased in at least two decades. This he mentioned in the context of upcoming budgetary discussions by the Jury.

Policy changes enough to forestall LDH cuts

A recent meeting of a legislative panel to review potential belt-tightening in state government, focusing on health care spending, skimmed the surface of how spending priorities need to change to reduce an area that spends nearly after of the state’s budget.

The House Appropriations Committee heard from the Department of Health on its progress identifying areas of reductions. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry asked state agencies to develop plans for an anticipated budget cut from this fiscal year to next, spurred by the expiration of two temporary taxes, by November.

The figure LDH came up with at the state level was $105 million, which, given the menu of choices for cuts, involved $332 million of federal dollars. Much Medicaid spending is compulsory, so only $821 million of state spending can be considered. Of that, around $400 million is for Medicaid expansion.

LA child welfare recovery can't replicate MN

After years of neglect by Democrat former Gov. John Bel Edwards, Louisiana is picking up the pieces of its child welfare system, but can’t make the mistake of Edwards’ Minnesota doppelganger.

In budgeting, Edwards pursued a strategy of growing government as much as possible and then baking it in by directing the increased spending towards wealth redistribution that targeted leftist priorities and presumed constituencies. Perhaps the foremost example of this was Medicaid expansion, now costing the state $400 million annually with much of that gong to individuals previously insured or who had the resources to do it themselves, while health indicators in the state are no better. Worse, people with disabilities suffered as even a fraction of those dollars could have ameliorated a growing abuse problem in congregate settings and another relatively small portion could have staved off a growing crisis in inability to provide home- and community-based services because of low reimbursement rates and reactive rather than proactive oversight.

But these clients don’t provide much in the way of votes for Democrats or gain plaudits from leftist interest groups and media, unlike with expansion, explaining Edwards’ priorities. But even he took a hit from the left when the Department of Children and Family Services continued to have failure after failure in preventing child abuse that came down to insufficient attention to and funds for child welfare – shortcomings well known to the Edwards Administration over the years but allowed to linger as dollars went to more politicized priorities rather than protecting children from abuse, who of course can’t vote.

Ouachita govts plan on taking more from citizens

Governments across Ouachita Parish seem eager to take more of what their citizens earn, without having made compelling cases to do so.

On the way is a sales tax hike imposed upon several businesses along the West Monroe waterfront – which of course, they must pass on to their patrons that largely comprise city but particularly parish residents. But all West Monrovians will suffer a sewerage rate increase as well starting this week, as a precondition to nabbing a state loan to address long-needed upgrades.

That may be necessary for future maintenance as the city historically had relatively low rates for both water and sewerage. But that led to chronic deficits in running this enterprise that taxpayers had to subsidize within the last few years which to ameliorate turned into rate hikes, as well prompting last year’s  creation of an escalator clause that started this year designed annually to increase rates further by price inflation. And the latest jump that started Sep. 1 will repeat over the next two years. It’s a problem that should have been addressed long ago.