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Senate approves Baton Rouge bill to speed removal of dangerous, blighted buildings; creates administrative process
Summary
The Senate passed a local bill from Senator Edmonds to allow Baton Rouge to route blight cases to a municipal administrative court and to streamline remediation while retaining due-process steps; the measure passed on a roll call.
The Louisiana Senate on the floor approved Senate Bill 236 by Senator Rick Edmonds, a local measure that the sponsor said is aimed at accelerating the remediation of dangerous and blighted properties in Baton Rouge. Edmonds told the chamber the measure grew out of a transition-team study for the new mayor and that the city has pursued models used in New Orleans.
Edmonds told senators the statute addressed “blight” comprehensively: since February 2016, he said, the parish has received more than 64,000 calls for service on blight-related issues — about 19 calls per day across roughly 3,400 days — evidence, he said, that the problem is widespread.
The bill directs eligible cases to an administrative court established by local ordinance (a so-called blight court) rather than routing every matter through the elected metro council. The sponsor said the change does not remove due process: inspections, notices, reinspection, a duty to appear and the ability to appeal to the 19th Judicial District Court all remain in the statutory sequence. "No due process is going to be eliminated," Edmonds told the Senate.
Opponents raised concerns about moving decision-making from an elected body to administrative processes and about the composition of any unelected adjudicative panel; Edmonds said he and the administration would continue to work with the metro council and the parish attorney to refine language and preserve opportunity for council input and reporting.
The Senate adopted committee amendments that replaced earlier language vesting authority in the mayor/president and specified the administrative-court process for adjudication. On a roll call the Senate recorded 29 yeas and 8 nays and the bill passed.
The sponsor said the statute is intended to streamline local remediation and economic revitalization while preserving procedural protections and opportunities for local officials and residents to weigh in.
