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To the surprise of many, Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed HB 781, which would have created a 17-member council to battle homelessness and a “Homeless Czar” that would have insured resources in the fight against homelessness were not duplicated or wasted.
The bill, authored by State Representative Walker Hines (D-Uptown New Orleans), passed with unanimous Republican and Democratic support. GOP Speaker Jim Tucker was so surprised by Jindal’s veto that he asked Hines, who has voted with the Governor over 90 percent of the time, who he angered in the administration.
Neither man would understand the veto. The bill, supported by Jindal’s own Social Services Secretary created the Council and a “Homelessness Czar” in the State Department as a means of corradiation the vast state, local, and federal resources already fighting the plague of homelessness in Louisiana, and according to some estimates would have saved money long-term.
In a prepared statement, Gov. Jindal explained that he vetoed HB 781 out of worries that the “five year fiscal note” would cost the state $656,834.
The initial price tag was non-existant, as Rep. Hines pointed out, as “the costs of administering the new director of Homelessness was to be fully funded with federal grants provided by Congress through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Louisiana taxpayers didn’t have to pay a dime for the new Director and Homeless Council for at least the next two years. The costs thereafter were negligible.”
In an interview with The Louisiana Weekly, Hines said that thanks to the federal stimulus funds, “It did not cost a dollar until the third year.” Moreover, Jindal’s claims of mounting costs, even in the beginning, were far higher than any previous estimate. “The total fiscal note was a little over 100,000 per year.”
Rep. Hines explained that he had thought the Governor understood the bill’s intent. “I had worked with the Governor’s staff including the Secretary of the Department of Social Services Kristy Nichols; she had supported this bill. We had universal support in committee as well as in the House and the Senate. It passed unanimously through both chambers.”
“Louisiana is one of only two states that does not have someone on the state level to provide homeless services,” Hines said. “You would have a point man to talk about homelessness issues...It would create a streamlined program.
“Unity for the Homeless [an advocacy group] looked at a cost analysis which they have from other states who have this in place. It showed that our money, Louisiana taxpayers’ money, is not being effectively used.”
With Stimulus dollars factored in, the legislation would have cost, according to Hines, “not a dollar this year. He [Jindal] could have ended the program after two years if he didn’t like the program.”
“I question the Governor’s priorities,” Hines stated. “He did not veto many NGOs, one of which was a $150,000 for the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame in Winnfield Louisiana.” Why spend $150,000 for a museum in a rural parish without many visitors but refuse to authorize a program that would have saved money long term, Hines wondered.
Nor does the State Representative agree with arguments made by some administration defenders that homelessness had already fallen to 5,500 statewide after being reported at over 10,000 in New Orleans alone just last year. “There is no way that this number is possibly correct,” Hines explained. “The chart that USA Today published is wrong.”
“New Orleans alone got 2,000 federal vouchers,” while other parishes have gone up in their homeless assistance claims. And, homelessness in the Pelican State is increasing by every other metric.
Therefore, from a policy standpoint, Hines was baffled as to what reasoning led the Governor to veto the bill. “I have already had the Speaker of the House call me and ask, ‘What did you do’? My entire family is Republican, and they loved it [HB 781], because it saved money over time.”
Rep. Hines wondered if his sole major vote against the Governor, on Rep. Neil Abramson’s bill to require the Governor’s office to abide by the same disclosure requirements that other elected officials must undertake, was the reason for the veto. “Obviously, I opposed him on the ethics bill, because he did not go far enough,” Hines said. “There is no logical reason for the Governor to veto this unless it was retribution.”
“We think this is punitive,” Hines declared. He noted that Republican Speaker Jim Tucker also opposed the Governor on the open-records law and as a result “he lost his million of dollars in member amendments.”
Rather than building coalitions in the legislature, “I think they have figured that they are willing to sacrifice their principles to buy support with rural legislators who need a new community center,” he maintained. “It is irresponsible.”
This article was originally published in the July 13, 2009 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper |
