CCA Hosts Legislative Update

Article by Jeanie Barnett, Photograph courtesy of Doug Barnett

On February 16, Central Community Alliance hosted a well attended Louisiana Legislative update in the DEMCO meeting room. 

Guest speakers were Senator Dale Erdey, District 64 Representative Bodi White, and District 65 Representative Cliff Richardson. 

Each legislator gave an overview of projects and issues of interest to our residents, then questions were taken from the audience.  Topics discussed fell generally into two categories.  They included the Louisiana economy, budget and budget cuts as well as road construction and improvement, with emphasis on the Hooper Road extension, improvements to Magnolia Bridge, and the proposed Baton Rouge Loop.

“The loop is on life support,” stated Dale Erdey, as each legislator reported that the majority of his constituents favored extending Hooper Road as a more effective and feasible solution.

Bodi White explained how the artificially inflated wealth of our state after Katrina caused a recalculation of Louisiana’s Federally funded portion of Medicaid, a tremendous blow to our state budget. He also explained that our state’s portion of higher education expenditures doubled in the last 10 years.  Being that higher education and health care represent 75% of Louisiana’s budget, it is easy to see how cuts in these areas were unavoidable.

CCA hosts monthly forums featuring guests and topics of interest to the citizens of Central.  They strive to provide all residents the opportunities to become involved, be informed and be heard.

On March 16th, The CCA and Central Chamber will co-sponsor a Candidate Forum of the Mayor, Police Chief, and City Council Candidates at the CHS Theater. If you have any Questions to submit, please do so by emailing [email protected] .

 As with every CCA public event, everyone is welcome to attend free of charge.