Republican State Sen. Jonathan Perry of Vermilion Parish is working on legislation that could require training, certificates and a permit fee to allow Good Samaritans to get past law enforcement into devastated areas, WWL-TV reports.
Perry says the legislation is meant to empower and not limit Good Samaritans such as the “Cajun Navy,” which rescued hundreds, maybe thousands, during the Great Flood of 2016.
The senator took to Facebook on Tuesday to explain the logistics of his proposal.
“The intent of what I want to do is to completely unregulate it to where our volunteers are not stopped from going out,” Perry says in a video. “What’s happening is, it’s all getting twisted around like I’m trying to put a fee on it.”
Perry says that if nothing changes—i.e., if no legislation is passed—volunteers like the Cajun Navy will be prevented from attempting to rescue people because, under current law, citizens who cross barricades or perimeters set up by law enforcement face punishment for breaking the law.
Perry’s proposal, when initially announced, irritated some members of the Cajun Navy.
“How can you regulate people helping people? That doesn’t make sense to me,” Cajun Navy member Dustin Clouatre of St. Amant tells WWL-TV.
