Now that the elections are over, it is time for us to focus on the upcoming legislative session and critical changes that need to be addressed to RESET Louisiana’s future. This year, the state has the potential to make significant strides toward improvement in many key areas.

The Public Affairs Research Council has research on what needs to be done to reform the state’s broken tax system, including lowering tax rates and replacing the franchise tax with alternative sources of funding, among other initiatives. The Council for A Better Louisiana has research about improving funding for early childhood education over the long term, retooling the JumpStart program and making dual enrollment universal in K-12 education. Other efforts are being discussed to improve workforce development in the state through community and technical colleges by addressing noncredit hour funding.

The next stage of improvements to the criminal justice and public safety system is hard to implement without data, but must include crime prevention and crisis intervention, which cannot be accomplished without an honest discussion about mental health and the opioid abuse crisis. Funding for transportation and infrastructure, which is woefully behind in the state, must be addressed through a broader coalition that builds public trust and achieves high-priority results across Louisiana.

Throughout 2019, the RESET team met with legislative candidates statewide to promote these critical changes, and many candidates ran and won on these issues. We look forward to making these ideas a reality — because nothing happens while we wait.

Please join the Committee of 100, CABL and PAR as we work to RESET Louisiana’s future. Visit www.reset-louisiana.com for more information.

Michael Olivier

Committee of 100 for Economic Development, Inc.

Baton Rouge 

Barry Erwin

Council for A Better Louisiana

Baton Rouge

Robert Scott

Public Affairs Research Council

Baton Rouge