Collection:LPB

Genre: Speech

Place Covered: Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 2006-03-27

Duration: 00:55:10

Subjects: Blanco, Kathleen Babineaux, 1942- | Louisiana. Legislature | Louisiana Legislative Session, 2006 | Politics | Government | Hurricane recovery | Hurricanes | Hurricane Katrina, 2005 | Hurricane Rita, 2005 | Abortion | Cloning | Government reorganization | Teacher pay raises | Housing | Emergency management | Road Home (Program: La.) | Flood insurance rate maps | Education | Workforce development | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | Gambling | Environment | COASTAL RESTORATION | Offshore oil and gas leases

Contributors:

• Ekings, Robyn Host
• Erwin, Barry Guest
• Linton, Tommy, Jr. Speaker
• Washington, Rome Performer
• Blanco, Kathleen Speaker

Robyn Ekings hosts live coverage of Governor Kathleen Blanco’s opening address to the 2006 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature on March 27, 2006. Prior to the speech, Ekings and Barry Erwin of the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL) discuss the contentious nature of the February special session and preview the major issues of the Regular Session, including abortion, cloning, cutting down on the number of tax assessors in New Orleans, teacher pay raises, housing issues, and the expropriation of property by private entities. In the House chamber, Tommy Linton, Jr. of Baton Rouge leads a prayer and Rome Washington performs “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” During her speech, Governor Blanco discusses: the continuing recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita; her emergency response legislation improving the National Incident Management System at the state and local levels and requiring plans for the continuity of government at the local level; the Road Home program; the lack of FEMA flood maps for four parishes waiting to rebuild after the storms; streamlining the city government of New Orleans; pay raises for K-12 teachers and higher education faculty; expanding and retraining the workforce; economic development, including the bridge loans for small businesses recovering from Katrina and Rita; her vow to veto any legislation expanding gambling in the state; establishing guidelines for the environmental clean-up of legacy oil and gas sites; and her threat to block the sale of new oil and gas leases if Louisiana does not receive a greater portion of the revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling in order to fund coastal restoration projects. Following the speech, Ekings and Erwin analyze the Governor’s remarks.