The House Appropriations Committee passed and sent to the full chamber Monday proposed legislation to reduce the money spent on state contracts — an area often mentioned during tough budget times for Louisiana — but not without a pointed exchange between the executive and legislative branch.
Of the resolutions now headed to the House floor for debate, the one most contentiously received was HCR2 by Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, mandating Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne report by March 1 preliminary agency reviews on all contracts for the legislature to consider for termination.
The bill’s passage comes eight days after Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an executive order calling for “a review of all professional, personal, and consulting contracts to determine the necessity of each contract” to be sent to Dardenne by March 14.
Harris said he moved up the due date in his resolution so legislators could begin to identify disposable contracts before the special session’s March 9 end date.
But the proposal received pushback from Dardenne. He testified that the March 1 time frame is not feasible, noting there were only 10 attorneys in the Division of Administration and thousands of contracts to be reviewed.
“You’ve got to be reasonable and you’ve got to be practical with your expectations,” Dardenne said. “If you think we’re actually going to have some information to you by March 1. . . that’s not going to happen.”
Some members of the Appropriations Committee, however, said the people of Louisiana couldn’t afford to wait until March 14.
“It may be unpractical, but I say go for it,” said Rep. Beryl Amedée, R-Houma. “I just feel like extraordinary times call for bold measures.”
“I wish it was that easy,” replied Dardenne.
Others were more sympathetic to the Division’s daunting task ahead.
“He can’t do it, y’all!” said Rep. Charles Chaney, R-Rayville, said of Dardenne. “You want to do it fast or you want to do it correct?”
The bill also saw a fiery defense from Louisiana Treasury Secretary and frequent Edwards critic John Kennedy, calling out certain state contracts as wasteful given the state’s nearly $940 billion budget shortfall for the current fiscal year. He has long harped on the thousands upon thousands of outside contracts and consultants the state has.
Before Harris’ bill passed without objection after more than an hour of deliberation, Dardenne agreed to present on March 1 any contract reports turned in early, with March 14 remaining state agencies’ final submittal date.
“I don’t mind getting you whatever I’ve got as soon as I get it,” he said.
Also on Monday morning, the committee passed HB42 by Rep. John Morris, R-Monroe, which would increase government transparency by requiring state contracting entities to submit additional information to the legislative auditor prior to negotiation.
It also moved to the full House a proposal, HB96, by Rep. Jerome Richard, I-Thibodaux, which called for a 15 percent spending reduction in all state contracts.
