Infrastructure, unemployment, tourism? Louisiana mulls find out how to spend $1.6B in federal money | Legislature

Governor John Bel Edwards on Thursday released his plan to spend nearly $ 1.6 billion on federal coronavirus aid in a proposal that will pump hundreds of millions of dollars into expanding the highways, the tourism industry, the municipalities Sewage and water systems modernized and the fund that pays unemployment benefits.

It is the opening offer in a soon-to-be heated debate between Edwards, a Democrat, and GOP-dominated state lawmaking over how to split the first tranche of a $ 3.2 billion profit made by the Democratic Congress American rescue plan adopted in 2004 is deployed in March.

In the wake of a global recession that devastated the Louisiana economy, federal funds provide an opportunity “once in a lifetime” to make permanent investments in the future of the state, according to state officials. Behind closed doors, the jockeying has already started, where the money is to be directed.

For both Edwards and lawmakers, avoiding an employer tax hike that is automatically triggered by the depletion of the state unemployment insurance trust fund is a top priority. The fund had reserves of more than $ 1 billion prior to the pandemic, but bottomed out by October when jobless claims rose.

Edwards plans to send $ 400 million to replenish the fund and another $ 230 million to repay federal loans taken out by the Workforce Commission once their resources run dry. That alone won’t be enough to avoid the tax hikes, although lawmakers are expected to put the automatic triggers on hold for another year to give the fund time to replenish.

“I don’t think having a tax hike is ever good when you’re trying to boost your economy after a pandemic,” Edwards said.

Influential chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma, said the broad lines of Edwards ‘spending proposal are in line with state lawmakers’ priorities but was skeptical of the governor’s demand for US $ 145 million Dollars for the tourism industry.

Edwards said Thursday he would like to see $ 125 million to offset the lost revenue caused by the state’s convention centers and tourism facilities. He recommended Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser added $ 20 million to aggressively market Louisiana as a tourist destination.

“This is incredibly important to stimulating our economy and attracting more customers to our business,” Edwards said, noting that the state lost an estimated $ 5 billion in tourism spending during the pandemic.

Zeringue hasn’t ignored the importance of tourism to Louisiana’s recreation, but suggested that local governments, which are expected to receive $ 1.8 billion themselves, join the effort. His upper chamber counterpart, Senator Bodi White, a Republican from Central who heads the Senate Finance Committee, said they were unlikely to go ahead with so much tourism funding.

Edwards recommended $ 400 million to help reduce the state’s $ 14 billion backlog on road and bridge projects. Investments in infrastructure are also a top priority for legislators, but as always with massive spending packages, “the devil is in the details,” said Zeringue.

Shawn Wilson, secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development, said his agency had created a wish list of projects for the $ 400 million, including $ 140 million for the expansion of Interstate 10 at Ascension Parish, Interstate 12 on St. Tammany Parish and Interstate 20 in northeast Louisiana.

Another $ 20 million would be used to take advantage of the rail and transit options offered by the Biden administration, including funding a recently proposed Amtrak line between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The list also includes $ 100 million for various congestion and maintenance projects, and $ 75 million for completing the La. Hwy. 3241 – a project in St. Tammany Parish that has been in the works for nearly three decades and was first promised to voters in 1989 when they last agreed to raise the gasoline tax.

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The US rescue plan – or “ARP” as Edwards calls it – puts a special emphasis on modernizing sewage and water systems, an emphasis that both the governor and state lawmakers fully agree with. More than half of government drinking water systems are over 50 years old and 20% are formally enforced for water quality violations and maintenance issues, Edwards said.

Edwards wants $ 300 million to go into a grant program to modernize and consolidate these systems, with local governments using a portion of their federal funds for government investments.

“This is a golden opportunity to make significant advances in water and wastewater, which is a huge problem across the state of Louisiana,” said Edwards.

Edwards said there is no better return on investment the state is getting than what is being poured into its ports, suggesting that the last $ 50 million will be used to replace revenue that is inland and domestic Lost deep water ports during the pandemic. Zeringue said this funding is a top priority for the state’s congressional delegation.

“Many of our ports have lost revenue due to business losses, business failures, and extraordinary costs to maintain the safety of the essential workforce that have continually moved our country’s supply chain,” said Jennifer Marusak, executive director of the Louisiana Ports Association.

The Port of New Orleans has lost around $ 28.7 million in revenue since the pandemic began, with more than $ 20 million due to the shutdown of the cruise industry, according to Marusak estimates.

Edwards said, as always, there was room for compromise in using those dollars but cautioned not to split them up in pork kegs for projects that do not provide the full amount of the funds.

“One of the things we should all protect ourselves from is that every pet project, every pet initiative, is funded out of those dollars because then you won’t have the transformative impact anywhere,” Edwards said.

There are already several stand-alone projects where the US dollar bailout is making its way through legislation. Senator Brett Allain, a Republican from Franklin, is Sponsoring a proposal that puts $ 30 million in the state’s Oilfield Site Restoration Fund. Another measureSenator Katrina Jackson, a Democrat from Monroe, asked for $ 200 million to help farm workers.

Edwards said they remain committed to investing the first funds in broadband as Congress considers an infrastructure package that is likely to include significant support for efforts to expand high-speed Internet.

The final rules on how the aid funds will be spent are not expected until May 10, Edwards said. The remaining half of the $ 3.2 billion will be distributed over the next two years and must be spent by the end of 2024.

“While $ 3.2 billion is a lot of money, and actually is a lot of money, you can’t do anything to make transformative, positive change in our state, and you can’t cut this cake into 100 pieces and . ” I think you will see significant improvement everywhere, “said Edwards.

Will Sentell of the Capitol News Bureau contributed to this report.