Amedee: Flood prevention first priority

State Rep.-elect Beryl Amedee’s first focus upon taking office next week is preventing possible flooding in the area, she said Monday.
Amedee, R-Gray, was the guest speaker at Monday’s St. Mary Industrial Group meeting.
Amedee will be sworn in Jan. 11 as state representative for District 51, which includes parts of Morgan City and Amelia, along with some of Terrebonne, Assumption and Lafourche parishes.
One of Amedee’s priorities to start her term will be efforts to prevent flooding in the region with the anticipated increasing river levels in the next few weeks.
Government officials will have to make a decision soon whether to open the Morganza Spillway, she said.
In 2011, the Mississippi River crested at 44.8 feet. However, there was minimal flooding in the region due to a 10-week drought prior to the high water, Amedee said. This year, the Mississippi’s projected crest is slightly lower, but the area has had several months of substantial rainfall.
Amedee encouraged people to pay attention to the forecast to determine what action they should take.
Other priorities for Amedee include addressing the state budget issues and economic problems, ensuring coastal protection and providing for education.
Amedee is prepared for Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards to call a special legislative session around Valentine’s Day to address the state’s budget issues.
The budget adjustments the Legislature made in June 2015 “have not panned out in real life,” Amedee said.
Legislators will have three weeks to wrestle with the budget and then go into the regular session soon after that, Amedee said.
The state can’t just tax its way out of the projected state’s budget deficit. Businesses are struggling right now in the midst of the low oil prices and can’t afford new taxes, she said.
“The budget problems we face right now are the result of years of poor choices that predated the current economic downturn,” Amedee said.
Amedee said she doesn’t support proposals to push the burden of the state’s budget deficit onto the backs of local governments, businesses and individuals.
“At some point, the state just has to stop spending what it doesn’t have,” Amedee said.
In 2015, south Louisiana saw thousands of layoffs to the region with more projected during 2016. Economists are forecasting that the region won’t see much improvement in the economy until spring 2017 at the earliest, Amedee said.
Still, Louisianans are resilient and determined people who will be able to get through the tough times, she said.
Amedee is in favor of regular dredging to improve conditions for industry traveling on the waterways.
She wants to continue to improve education so there’s a workforce available for the industries the region is trying to grow.
Amedee has served as a “volunteer education advocate” in Baton Rouge for the past 20 years, working to get better learning opportunities.
Education decisions in the state “should be made as close to home as possible, and Washington is a little bit too far away,” Amedee said. All children deserve access to a quality education.
Higher education needs to be overhauled as well. Col-lege graduates are ending up with large amounts of student loan debt that’s taking them 10 to 20 years to pay off, she said.
“Meanwhile, the college degree that they get doesn’t carry the same value that it once did in the work world,” Amedee said.
Coastal protection and restoration is another priority for Amedee.
“Even if we solve all these other problems, if we don’t have any land to live on, we can’t stay,” Amedee said.
The government should. Manage freshwater diversion projects responsibly while considering the impacts on property, agriculture and fisheries, Amedee said.
Leaders must continue rebuilding barrier islands and working to strengthen levee systems, she said.