A proposal to divert $190 million of Louisiana’s congressional disaster-recovery money to a flood-protection project could face hurdles from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, even if the full Legislature agrees to it.
As The Associated Press reports, the House Appropriations Committee added language to next year’s budget proposal on Monday to shift some of the federal dollars to the Comite River Diversion Canal.
The years-old, long-delayed project is aimed at lessening flood risks in parts of East Baton Rouge and Livingston parishes. Republican Rep. Valarie Hodges, whose Denham Springs home flooded in the August 2016 deluge, proposed taking the money from $1.6 billion in federal block grant aid allocated to Louisiana for recovery from separate floods across the state in March and August of last year.
The committee agreed in a 14-6 vote, with Democrats opposed. For the money to be shifted, the proposal would need approval from the full House and Senate, along with federal officials who oversee the disaster-recovery spending.
Even if the full Legislature agrees to Hodges’ proposal, it’s unclear if the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—which already has approved Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration’s plan to spend the $1.6 billion in disaster aid — would agree to divert the dollars to the flood project.
The Edwards administration also objects to taking the money from homeowners.
“To take these funds from homeowners who have been waiting for help and reallocate them to a project that should be funded from the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers from a separate pot of money is problematic,” Richard Carbo, the Democratic governor’s spokesman, says in a statement. “Our goal was and is to get families back into their homes, and this amendment is not in keeping with that effort.”
