Three levee police forces would share one chief under Louisiana House bill www.privateofficer.com
Baton Rouge LA May 19 2012 – A single superintendent would oversee the police forces of three levee districts in the New Orleans area under a bill approved Thursday by a Louisiana Senate committee House Bill 701 by Rep. Ray Garofalo, R-Meraux, underwent some changes in the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works, but was then approved without objection. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for debate.
The measure would authorize the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, which oversees flood protection and levee police agencies from the Orleans, Lake Borgne and East Jefferson levee districts, to name one superintendent to run all three. A temporary appointee is in place now under various agreements among the agencies.
Garofalo said that there is only one police officer and no superintendent in the Lake Borgne district, 24 officers in the Orleans district and 22 in the East Jefferson district.
The bill would save about $560,000 over a five-year period, he said. “This is a fiscally conservative move,” Garofalo said.
At his request, the panel removed language from the bill that would have placed the superintendent under the direction of State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson.
Garofalo said that would impose more work on State Police. The bill also allows the flood protection agency to shift police offices among the three police districts as needed in times of emergencies.
Two other local bills also progressed through House and Senate committees Thursday.
House Bill 934 by Rep. Tony Ligi, R-Metairie, to let the city of New Orleans and Jefferson Parish to keep .5 percent of the expiring 3 percent excise tax on vehicle rentals, cleared the Senate Committee on Local and Municipal Affairs, while a competing bill by Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, sailed out of the House Committee on Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs.
Murray’s Senate Bill 351 would retain all 3 percent of the vehicle rental tax that the state did not renew: the 2.5 percent that now goes to the state and the .5 percent that flows to local governments.
Both bills would require voter approval before the tax could be imposed. Murray’s bill was amended to allow Calcasieu Parish to also impose the 3 percent tax with voter approval.
Murray’s bill heads to the House floor; Ligi’s bill goes to the full Senate. The revenues for New Orleans in both bills would go to road repairs and beautification projects; the Jefferson revenues would to arts, culture and recreation programs.
