Transportation, education, health care and the state’s budget deficit sit atop the list of important issues the candidates running for state office need to address to help get Louisiana back on track to economic prosperity, according to Blueprint Louisiana.
Blueprint Louisiana, a nonpartisan citizens’ group founded in 2006, released its agenda today in the runup to the Oct. 24 primary elections. The group says the priority list comes after two years of discussions with stakeholders and subject matter experts across the state. The group released similar agendas prior to the 2007 and 2011 elections.
“Our goal this election cycle remains the same as it was in 2007 and 2011—to frame Louisiana’s most important issues for candidates and voters—and to hopefully compel candidates to reveal to voters how they will address these issues if elected,” says Dr. Phillip Rozeman, president of Cardiovascular Consultants in Shreveport and Blueprint Louisiana’s chairman, in a prepared release.
To address the top four priorities, Blueprint Louisiana’s agenda offers solutions to each problem area.
For transportation, the group says lawmakers need to stop raiding the Transportation Trust Fund, invest more money in the fund and improve the operation effectiveness of the state Department of Transportation and Development. To improve education, the group says preserving higher admissions standards for higher education and sustaining TOPS are key. For the state’s budget deficit, building honest state budgets and streamlining the state’s corporate tax system are two of the group’s recommendations.
The group is also calling on Louisiana to accept the federal Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act on “principled and financial grounds,” says Blueprint Louisiana Secretary Clay Allen.
“Combined with a customized approach, it seem clear-cut to us that the state should step up and accept the federal health care dollars that are rightfully Louisiana’s, which not only helps patients and providers but also provides some relief to the budget,” Allen says in a statement.
