Blanco asks for recovery statewide

(AP) — Gov. Kathleen Blanco said lawmakers meeting Monday in their first regular session since the hurricanes must balance rebuilding efforts and emergency preparations for the next storm season with the needs of the entire state.
“Our challenge is to rebuild the affected areas while making progress as a state. I urge you to support bold investments in statewide priorities while keeping your foot on the accelerator driving our recovery,” Blanco told a joint session of the House and Senate.
As she outlined her proposals for the legislative session, the governor mainly pushed spending items included in her $20.3 billion budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year: a $105 million pay raise for public school teachers, a $31 million salary hike for professors, a $15 million work training program and nearly $5 million to buy land in the hopes of attracting a large manufacturer to north Louisiana.
Legislators are supportive of the big-ticket item — for teacher pay — but are questioning whether the state can afford pay raises after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Blanco said she was confident the state could pay for the annual costs of a salary hike.
“It’s just a matter of getting a comfort zone about the dollars and cents,” said Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Mandeville, head of the Senate’s GOP caucus.
Blanco touched only lightly on other bill proposals outside of the budget, pushing two emergency preparedness measures that would coordinate emergency response plans at the state and local levels and asking for backing of her housing buyout and rebuilding program — which will use federal dollars but needs legislative approval before the money can be spent.
She renewed a battle she lost in a special legislative session, to consolidate New Orleans government, which has seven assessors, two sheriffs and two court systems.
“Streamlining New Orleans’ government will make it more efficient and accountable to the people. What works for the rest of the state will work for New Orleans, too. Our goal is not to rebuild the same, our goal is to rebuild better than before,” Blanco said.
Blanco’s own legislative allies helped stymie a similar proposal in a February special session, and several New Orleans lawmakers said they planned to fight the legislation again. The governor couldn’t find a New Orleans legislator to sponsor the sweeping city government consolidation bill; one of her legislative allies from southwest Louisiana introduced it.
Rep. Charmaine Marchand said the governor should put off any plans to consolidate government until next year, when the city has a better idea of how large its population will be. But Marchand said she expected the governor to try harder to get the bills passed this session.
“It’s going to be a harder fight this time,” said Marchand, D-New Orleans.
In previous speeches to the Legislature, Blanco has urged lawmakers to remain united — but partisan divides not often seen in Louisiana’s House and Senate have started to emerge. This time, Blanco said she expects the partisanship, but she had one request: “Since you enjoy the partisan fight, have at it. Just make sure the results are right at the end.”