Making government leaner and better: Louisiana lawmakers in the just-ended legislative session didn’t do much to restructure government. Instead, they created two commissions to look at how best to do that restructuring in later years. Now that the panels are created, they have tight timelines for getting started and pulling together recommendations. The governor’s Commission on Streamlining Government must hold its first meeting by July 30, under the proposal approved by the Legislature. And a higher education review commission must meet by Aug. 15. The commissions are supposed to look for ways to create efficiencies and cut spending as the state’s budget woes are expected to grow worse in the next few years.
Vehicle plant will benefit megasite: Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret says the state’s industrial megasite in Richland Parish will benefit from V-Vehicle Co.’s decision to build a plant in nearby Ouachita Parish. The San Diego-based startup automobile company plans to build a new generation, fuel-efficient car at the now-vacant Guide Corp. plant in northeast Louisiana. The plant will be a few miles from the Franklin Farms Industrial Megasite in Richland Parish. Louisiana bought the 1,425-acre Franklin Farms Megasite for $4.6 million in 2006. Moret says the challenge in promoting Franklin Farms was that the region was more sparsely populated than competing sites. With V-Vehicle’s announcement, Moret believes Franklin Farms will attract an established manufacturer when the auto industry rebounds.
