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The Times-Picayune, New Orleans
Briefing Book
April 30, 2004
Highway Detour
The Senate Transportation Committee derailed a proposal Thursday that would have put lawmakers back in the business of setting priorities on state road projects. Senate Bill 25 by Sen. Jody Amedee, D-Gonzales, would have removed much of a current provision of the law that prohibits the Legislature from adding or substituting projects in the state's annual transportation construction program. The committee converted the bill into a resolution calling for a study of the matter. The state Department of Transportation and Development provides a priority construction list each year to the Legislature, which can delete items but not add news ones or rearrange them. The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana raised an alarm about Amedee's bill as well as two similar measures, House Bill 754 by Rep. Mike Powell, R-Shreveport, and HB 1164 by Rep. Gary Beard, R-Baton Rouge, which await consideration. The council, a watchdog group that monitors legislative activity, said the bills would "return to the good old days of legislative log rolling to select highway projects."
