BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Lawmakers are weighing ideas of how to get more gas stations, grocery stores and pharmacies to buy generators in case they lose power after a hurricane.
Members of the House’s homeland security committee said Thursday they’d like to look into offering tax credits to private businesses that buy commercial generators.
Large-scale power outages after Hurricane Gustav shut down supermarkets, gas stations and other businesses around much of the state, leaving affected residents without fuel and food.
After that storm, Governor Bobby Jindal got the state into the generator-buying business, spending nearly $12 million on generators to loan to private businesses and help communities restart services.
Lawmakers say they want to consider whether to require gas stations on evacuation routes to have generators. Florida lawmakers created a law in 2006 requiring owners of 10 or more gas stations to have at least one generator.
But House Homeland Security Chairman Bodi White says he’d prefer tax credits to mandates.
 
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