Spreading the word about our reforms

July 9th, 2008 | Posted by admin

Dear Friends,
Governor Jindal addresses the Baton Rouge Press Club on Monday.

Spreading the Word About Our Reforms

I spoke to the Baton Rouge Press Club yesterday about the future of our state and the successes of our first regular legislative session. We have completely revamped our state’s workforce development program and Department of Labor, now known as the Louisiana Workforce Commission, which will bring increased economic opportunity for both employers and employees alike. The restructuring of our state’s labor department will, as reported by the Houma Courier, “[prepare] it to confront the state’s staggering need for skilled workers,” and better link potential workers with programs and technical colleges prepared to teach them the skills they need.

 

I love when our children go to college, but we must realize that not all of our students will attend a university. Instead we need to encourage these students to continue their education by allowing them early participation in community and technical college programs. By revamping our workforce training programs, we can provide a path to opportunity for these students through dual enrollment programs beginning when they are still in high school. This will not only allow students to receive valuable training at a younger age, it will also showcase the many options available to them with the proper training.  

 

This revamping of our workforce development system was the single most important package our administration pushed for in this past session, and I was pleased to sign this important legislation into law last week. Our state will now move at the speed of business, and not the speed of government, while providing employers a “Day One Guarantee” that workers will be trained and ready to work, or our community and technical colleges will retrain them for free.

 

While we have much work to do, we have accomplished a lot in a short period of time, such as cutting taxes, increasing our teachers’ ability to maintain discipline in the classroom, and strengthening Louisiana’s laws to protect our children from sex offenders. We have also made sure that the strong ethics changes we made earlier this year have not been weakened. As the Houma Courier stated, “Gov. Bobby Jindal struck a blow for good, responsible government” when “Jindal killed a bill…[that] would have put Ethics Board investigators at a disadvantage.” The bill, which would have prevented anonymous complaints, “would have taken away a great resource from the Ethics Board,” the paper concluded.

 

We have also instilled a number of fiscal reforms that make sure we are investing taxpayer money wisely. An editorial in the Shreveport Times said one such reform - strengthening requirements for non-governmental organizations to receive state funds, “set a good precedent” because “taxpayers should [not] be counted on for recurring, operational expenses of local nonprofits unless nonprofits are contracted to provide services the state cannot.”

 

I look forward to continuing to improve our state, and building a better Louisiana. Day by day we are cutting the chains that have held our state down for so long, and we will continue working hard every single day to make sure that our state realizes its potential. Louisiana is the greatest place in the world to raise a family, and we must continue with our reforms to give the rest of the nation and the world a reason to believe that.

 

Moving Forward with Levee Funding

I recently met with Louisiana’s Congressional delegation, as well as other Congressional leaders, in Washington to discuss the future of rebuilding funds for Louisiana following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The federal government has attempted to force our state to repay its cost-share of levee funds almost immediately, instead of the thirty years that has been provided in the past. This would cause the state to pay more than $1 billion – more than a third of our yearly discretionary budget – by 2010. We are not asking that our state’s cost share be waived. We are just asking to operate under fair guidelines and for the federal government to give Louisiana the same amount of time to pay the cost share as has been provided in the past. As stated in the Baton Rouge Advocate, “it does not make sense to hit Louisiana with a three-year bill for cost-share money that usually is spread out for far longer periods.”

 

These current funds are simply to bring our levees to their supposed pre-Katrina levels, and are not even to provide protection against a Category 5 storm. I certainly appreciate all of the help and funding that has come to our state since Katrina and Rita, but it is unreasonable to expect our state to pay such a steep price. I will continue to work with members of Congress – we are willing to pay our fair share.

 

Improving Our Mental Health System

 

I was joined in New Orleans yesterday by Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine and local officials to discuss the significant improvements to both the delivery of mental health services and providing safety for communities from those that may be a danger to others or themselves. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita served to exacerbate the problems of a system that was already broken, and we will continue working hard to improve mental health services in Louisiana.

 

Our package of bills in the recently completed regular session consisted of five pieces of legislation, and more than $89 million in funds committed to support mental health care services. One example of legislation that was passed was Nicola’s law, named after slain New Orleans Police Officer Nicola Cotton, which gives judges the ability to order mandatory outpatient treatment for mentally ill patients who may be a danger to society when not provided with supervision. We have also signed into law legislation that will create mental health crisis centers, which will swiftly and accurately detail a patient’s specific mental health needs.

 

We also passed a law that will allow us to use technology to provide better services for mental health patients. Our new legislation will allow doctors to carry out exams on patients who may be deemed dangerous to themselves or society via telemedicine, drastically decreasing wait times and getting health services to those in need much quicker.

 

We will continue working to improve our entire mental health system and infrastructure in order to best provide for the needs of all Louisianians. Our mental health system has been ignored and allowed to decay for too long, and it is past time that we ensure that mental health patients have access to the help they need.

 

Holding Town Hall Meetings

I will be holding a series of Town Hall meetings across the state this August. More details will be given as dates and places are determined, and I look forward to meeting with residents across the state to hear your thoughts and concerns. It is a great honor to serve as Governor, and one that I do not take lightly.

 

Sincerely,

 Bobby Jindal

Governor Bobby Jindal

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