A House committee has approved a trio of bills aimed at changing the way the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission considers and adopts policies. After hours of debate earlier this week, the House Natural Resources Committee endorsed the bills and sent them to the full House for further consideration.
First Up: House Bill 529 by Rep. Billy R. Chandler, D-Dry Prong, is a constitutional amendment that would add new members to the commission and change the way membership is determined.
There are currently seven members of the commission appointed by the governor — six serve six-year staggered terms and one serves the same term as the governor in office. Furthermore, three members must be from coastal areas and represent commercial fishing and fur industries, while four must be from the state at large.
Chandler’s proposal would add two new members to the commission: one appointed from each Public Service Commission district and one more member appointed from the state at large. If approved by the Legislature, the constitutional amendment would face voters on Nov. 2, 2010.
The Deuce: House Bill 613 by Rep. James Armes, D-Leesville, would allow lawmakers to have a hand in setting hunting season dates.
Presently, the commission has this authority, but Armes wants lawmakers to review and be able to reject hunting dates. He argues that the Legislature once had a “checks-and-balance” role in setting the seasons, but it was stripped years ago. “This bill is just for us to be able to override if we have a problem,” he says.
Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham counters that the system in place should not be changed, especially since the commission works so closely with the department’s biologists. “There is a difference in the political environment and the regulation of wild,” Barham says.
The Third Leg: House Bill 775 by Rep. John E. Guinn, R-Jennings, would alter the way the commission deals with public requests.
Presently, any interested person may petition the commission to request the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule. Guinn’s proposed law would provide that the agency reviews the request and “provide timely notice to the person making the request indicating whether or not the agency intends to act on the request.”
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
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