BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A New Orleans lawmaker said Wednesday that he's asked for the attorney general's opinion on whether Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration can move ahead with privatizing most of the LSU-run hospitals without legislative approval.
Rep. Jared Brossett said he filed an official request for legal guidance on the matter with Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.
Brossett, D-New Orleans, said he believes that because the hospitals are public assets, turning them over to private managers should require legislative backing.
"This opinion is necessary to preserve the integrity of the legislative process and the legislative branch's right to be involved in issues impacting the welfare of the state," he wrote in his request to Caldwell.
Jindal's health secretary, Bruce Greenstein, said the law doesn't require legislative approval of the privatization agreements and the administration doesn't intend to seek a vote.
"They don't need to take a vote up or down. That's not a part of the statute," Greenstein said. He added, "We've looked very closely over the statutes that pertain to this. We've had our attorneys and LSU attorneys look at this."
Greenstein said his department has turned over operation of other state-owned health care facilities to private companies without specific legislative authorization, most recently a state psychiatric hospital in St. Tammany Parish.
Agreements have been announced that will turn over management of the university hospitals in New Orleans, Lafayette, Houma and Lake Charles to nonprofit corporations that run private hospitals in the regions. Administration officials say similar deals also are in the works for LSU's hospitals in Monroe, Pineville and Bogalusa.
Hefty savings from the privatizations are assumed in Jindal's budget proposal for the upcoming 2013-14 fiscal year.
None of the financial arrangements has been completed — or unveiled to the public. Greenstein said he expects all the agreements to be done within three months, with some wrapped up within the next month.
Greenstein said the completed deals will go to lawmakers on the joint House and Senate budget committee for review, and he said the Jindal administration is working with lawmakers as they craft the plans.
The university-run hospitals provide safety net care for the uninsured and help train most of the state's medical students.
"The state has an interest in ensuring the continued existence of an equitable, accessible, affordable public health care system that delivers quality services and is accountable to the communities it serves," Brossett wrote.
Caldwell spokeswoman Amanda Larkins said the attorney general's office received Brossett's request Wednesday and would immediately begin processing it. She said she couldn't provide a timeline for when a response would be ready for the lawmaker.
MAY 20 This post by blogger CB Forgotston draws parallels between Gov. Bobby Jindal and two individuals he probably doesn't want to be aligned with: President Obama and former governor Edwin Edwards. CB says Jindal's trying to jack up the debt ceiling (an Obama play, according to CB) and buy votes from GOP leges who normally wouldn't go for that (an Edwards play, CB says).
MAY 20 Here's a post in the Baptist Message from an alumnus of Louisiana College. The author, Larry Burgess, calls on the leadership of the private school to take care of some pressing problems. Physical plant issues are critical and unaddressed, some faculty make so little they need government health care, and there is an atmosphere that does not encourage honest discussion, he writes. It's time to get things back in order, he says.
MAY 20 This post in Gambit tells of a benefit concert scheduled to raise money for the 19 people shot during a Mother's Day second line on Frenchmen Street in NOLA. Among them was Gambit blogger Deb Cotton, who spoke frequently about violence in the city and reported on the city's second line culture. Gambit's foundation, along with other NOLA non-profits, also is selling t-shirts to raise money for the victims.
MAY 20 Blogger Robert Mann is critical of the personal interest some legislators take in their work here, sharing the comments one NOLA solon made in explaining his decision to vote against a bill that would require people to stop discriminating against female workers. His wife might lose some salary, so he was going to have to vote against the equal pay bill, Conrad Appel said. Appel and everyone who heard him should have been ashamed, but they weren't, and that's what is wrong in that building, Mann argues.
MAY 20 American Press columnist Jim Beam writes about the budget again here, urging kudos for the House and its efforts to try to fix the budget as opposed to passing on a flawed and messy rubber-stamped document as it usually does. The Senate already is poo-pooing the effort, but instead Senators should be trying to find a way to improve it as well, Beam argues. He also has some predictions in here from LABI and CABL.
MAY 20 Here's a link to the photo gallery from Tulane's graduation this past weekend. Dr. John and Allen Toussaint played together and received honorary degrees. The Dalai Lama was so entranced by their performance he got up from his seat and walked across the stage to stand next to them. He even participated in a second line with his own personal, saffron-colored umbrella. To the graduates, he urged them to think about creating a peaceful, hopeful life and society.
MAY 20 This Picayune story questions the rhetoric of NOLA officials who say the city, aside from having a "murder problem," is safe. The talking points generally are that the criminals are killing each other, but everything else is OK. The police chief there says that even Lafayette is more dangerous than NOLA. But crime experts interviewed here say that NOLA's numbers indicate one of two things: either people are so used to violence they don't report it, or somebody's "fudging the numbers."
MAY 20 The Advocate's Mark Ballard writes about some of the background maneuvering that took place during the development of budget alternatives in the Legislature. From Rep. Joel Robideaux being called a "tax and spend liberal" to robo-call influence, Ballard lets us in on some of the work that happens behind the scenes but usually doesn't make it into the Advocate's daily coverage of the session.
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Can one imagine the nerve of this guy! Who does this guy think he is? Questioning the great, the incomparable, the magnificent, the “my way or the highway”, the constantly “reinventing the wheel” “Jindal the Perfect”(OK, I could have been more guttural with that one, but I do want my comment posted)? More so, imagine a legislator daring to do his job? A legislator with the where with all, the backbone to question, to challenge “Bobby the Great's” approach with respect to decimating Louisiana. Why haven't other legislators ask the same simply question Rep Brossett has asked? These, the universities, hospitals(at least what's left of the hospitals), public schools, prisons, etc., are state institutions. They are financed by state taxes paid by the citizens and corporations(LOLL on the corporations, Jindal has pretty much wiped out any/all corporate tax liabilities). “Bobby-Tye” waves his “magic gubernatorial wand” and there goes the Charity Hospital system-a vestige of Louisiana public support older than social security. The Charity Hospital system was created by and under the Huey P. Long administration for the sole purpose of providing health care to the poor and indigent citizens of Louisiana. Under the Jindal administration this portion of Louisiana's population amounts to almost 35% of the population.
“Bobby-Tye” waves his “magic wand” and there goes the public school system. Who cares if the state constitution mandates fixed support for public schools. Jindal certainly don't. After all, Jindal is more intelligent than the some total of human experiences that have formed the state. Those “dummies” that wrote what I call the “Edwards Constitution”(cause it was passed under Edwin Edward's first term in office), didn't know what they were doing. To think, those delegates incorporated a constitutional mandate, a fixed percentage of monies that must be spent on public education and only on public education. Oh the horror! Bobby knows better. He'll just take the CONSTITUTIONALLY MANDATED FUNDS and pay them to parents in the form of vouchers.
Again, Bobby waves his “magic wand” and decimates the revenue base of the state, handing out literally millions of tax exemptions and transferable tax credits to corporations and businesses in the state. Such “incentives” are costing Louisiana literally millions of dollars in revenue. 2011 corporate franchise fees and income taxes collections represent a decrease of over $770 million(3/4's of a billion) dollars from 2008 collections. This decrease is directly traceable to Jindal's goal of creating a “tax free” environment for businesses. Jindal has handed out tax exemptions from sales taxes, property taxes, as well as transferable tax credits that can be sold by corporations to other companies that can then use the purchased credit to reduce their tax liability.(This transferable tax credit issue deserves further review and examination.)
One for Bobby—ZERO FOR LOUISIANA.
Regardless of how this issue is resolved, whether the ultimate decision supports Jindal's moves or declares them illegal(oh I hope/I hope/I hope!). I'm proud to the to see someone, anyone, stand up to and questioning this little “perve” pawing himself off as an effective administrator. It is past time the “worm turns”. It is time for the people to take back the state. More importantly, it's time for the entire country to learn how Jindal has decimated this state and if elected President(OH! God forbid) how he will carry his malignant virus to Washington.