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City lobbyist briefs council on key bills, governor's capital list and status of motion-picture and local projects
Summary
Contract lobbyist Chance McNeely updated the council on active state bills affecting local sales tax, blight, motion-picture tax credits, and capital-outlay requests that placed nine Shreveport projects in the governor's initial list, and noted ongoing outreach related to a proposed large private investment.
Chance McNeely, the city's contract lobbyist in Baton Rouge, updated the council on several bills the city is tracking and on capital-outlay items in the governor's proposed list.
McNeely reviewed house and senate bills the city supports or opposes, including bills addressing misappropriation of utility payments, exemptions to local sales tax, landlord/tenant removal of unauthorized occupants, motion-picture tax credits, and bills related to blight and land banks. He reported several bills he opposed did not move out of committee during recent hearings.
On capital outlay, McNeely said the governor's initial document lists nine Shreveport projects, including an Amtrak platform (P5), a Shreveport healthcare development corridor with Linwood bridge work (P5 and some P1 commitments), district road rehab (P5), CC Antoine Museum/Art Center funding (P1), University Park subdivision improvements (P5), and others. He explained P1 is immediate funding, P2 can be advanced, and P5 represents a legislative intent to fund later in a multiyear process.
McNeely also reported on meetings involving Curtis Jackson and state officials; he said discussions with the governor's office and legislative leaders were positive and that the city hopes to secure meaningful funding in the near term. Council members discussed how the lobbying contract is managed and how council positions and resolutions feed into lobbying priorities; Attorney Edwards read the city code provision delegating monitoring of state legislation to the chief administrative officer while also enabling communications between city personnel and legislators.
Ending: McNeely said the session has about four weeks remaining and offered to provide council members a written status report on key bills and the city's capital-outlay requests; council members asked for follow-up on specific projects and on advice about legislative advocacy the council may undertake.
