At Alexandria Rotary luncheon, Landry talks about measures passed since taking office

Speaking at the City of Alexandria’s Rotary Club luncheon Tuesday, Gov. Jeff Landry spoke a packed house of Rotarians and community leaders about passed measures that relate to public safety, education, the economy, insurance and infrastructure.

He started his speech by saying that within the next 30-60 days his office will have a few announcements that will be economically transformative to Central and North Louisiana.

With him was Dr. Ralph Abraham, former U.S. representative for Louisiana’s 5 ^th Congressional District, who was just appointed as Louisiana’s first surgeon general. Prior to this appointment, he had been serving as the secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health.

Abraham will work with health and science centers, medical schools, medical and nursing boards and hospital networks “to make sure we are capitalizing on things that work and we’re doing away with things that don’t work,” said Landry.

In regard to public safety, he said they passed 20 bills that are going to make Louisiana a safer state. One bill expands access to drug courts and other works to help those who were incarcerated move into society to become more productive citizens.

“But the most important thing we did is, we are creating transparency in our criminal justice system,” Landry told the crowd. “And we are giving victims a voice. We are making sure that victims are the most important person in the criminal justice system because they are the ones that matter.”

During the legislature session, Landry said they implemented “truth in sentencing” where the victim and the defendant know how much time the defendant will really serve in incarceration.

Through legislation and action, he said that they made it a point to say that Louisiana backs law enforcement officers “because we know if you are going to have a safe community, somebody has to enforce the law."

“Over the last decade or so, we’ve seen some of the most disrepectful things happen to our law enforcement officers and we’re just not going to tolerate it here in Louisiana anymore. That’s what’s going to make Louisiana such a great, great place,” said Landry.

In education, Landry said they are going to focus on teachers and their relationship with the child.

“We put together a program called, ‘Let the Teachers Teach,’” said Landry. Teachers from around the state were brought together and asked how the state is an obstacle between them and the child.

Teachers don’t teach for the money but for the love for the children and because it’s a calling, he said.

“The fact that the government would pile things on them and make their job so obstructive, so burdensome, that they wouldn’t want to teach anymore is saddening in itself,” he said.

This will allow the teachers to go back to teaching, he explained, and not be social workers and if social workers are needed, they’ll get them in the schools.

He also spoke about an educational scholarship program “which is the first step towards getting Louisiana off the bottom because finally once and for all, your tax dollars began to follow your child.”

Landry said critics claim that this will decimate public schools, but he says it’s not true.

Louisiana will join 13 or 14 other states that have enacted programs like this, he said. None of those states closed public school, but instead their education rankings moved up, said Landry.

The program will be implemented in phases, he said, starting with special needs and low-income students so they can budget accordingly.

The Department of Economic Development will undergo a restructuring through another bill that was passed and will focus on the businesses and industries that grew the state, he said.

The Department of Transporation will also be streamlined.

“We just inserted $370 million into the Department of Transportation’s budget that has to go to maintenance of roads in this state,” he said, adding that they have a list of roads and bridges that need work.

Another bill passed that he said created universal recognition of professional licensing.

“We had doctors trying to get into the state of Louisiana. It would take them 8 to 10 to 12 months just to be able to get their licensing so that they could practice here,” he said.

He also spoke about insurance which he said is a crisis. As attorney general, he sued the Federal Government over flood insurance and that lawsuit is still pending.

Flood insurance is really a crisis, he said, because no one can get a mortgage if they can’t get flood insurance.

“This year, the legislature passed 26 insurance tort reform bills,” he said, with 6-8 of them solely focused on property insurance. “All things that they said they needed to make property insurance competitive in this state. And we’re going to see. We’re going to hold them accountable because we passed all those particular measures.”

“We passed 26 measures. And we’re going to keep working. And I want you to know something. If you see me vetoing something, I can promise you, I do not believe it’s good for the working people of this state,” he said.

He closed by talking about the posting of the 10 Commandments in schools. He said he didn’t think it would be so controversial, and that only proved to him they were right in doing so.

He said those 10 tenets are found “in the good books of many, many religions that spell out ways in which you can live your life and be a productive citizen.”

“I believe that as we go through, because it is that next generation, it is those children, and it’s in our schools, that Louisiana flourishes,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: At Alexandria Rotary luncheon, Landry talks about measures passed since taking office