House Commerce panel approves bill letting Louisiana Economic Development create innovation fund and transact land for projects

Senators and representatives on the House Committee on Commerce advanced Senate Bill 161 on May 27, approving language that creates a Louisiana Economic Development (LED) Innovation Fund and gives LED statutory authority to buy, sell, lease and sublease property for economic development projects.

The bill, presented by Senator Mizell and explained by Susan Bourgeois of Louisiana Economic Development, would “create — it does not fund but it does create — a Louisiana economic development innovation fund,” Bourgeois told the committee. She said the measure also would give LED the ability “to lease, sublease, purchase and sell land as it relates to economic development projects.”

Why it matters: committee members said the changes are intended to make LED “move at the speed of business” and to close gaps left by last year’s reorganization of the department. Supporters described the authority as a tool to prepare and hold sites for future projects and to capture economic…