Collection:LPB

Genre: Speech

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

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 2006-12-08

Duration: 00:30:12

Subjects: Blanco, Kathleen Babineaux, 1942- | Louisiana. Legislature | Louisiana Legislative Session, 2006 | SPECIAL SESSIONS | Politics | Government | STATE BUDGET | Budget surpluses | ROADS | Transportation | RETIREMENT SYSTEMS | Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation | Taxes | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | Teacher pay raises | State employee pay raises

Contributors:

• Ekings, Robyn Host
• Erwin, Barry Guest
• Hines, Donald Speaker
• Blanco, Kathleen Speaker

Robyn Ekings hosts live coverage of Governor Kathleen Blanco’s opening address to a 2006 Special Session of the Louisiana Legislature on December 8, 2006. Prior to the speech, Ekings and Barry Erwin of the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL) discuss Governor Blanco’s controversial call for this special session. During her speech, Governor Blanco addresses the need for the special session and her funding priorities for the $827 million budget surplus from the previous fiscal year and $1.6 billion in new money in the following areas: road improvements; paying down the unfunded accrued liability debt for the state’s retirement systems; helping local governments make FEMA payments for debris removal following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita; establishing the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation; providing insurance rebates; tax cuts for families and businesses; a grant program for small businesses; economic development; strengthening the interoperability of the emergency communication systems; and providing pay raises for teachers, sheriff’s deputies, policemen, firefighters, and state employees. Following the speech, Ekings and Erwin analyze the Governor’s remarks and discuss the need for the Legislature to raise the spending cap in order to fund these proposals.