Louisiana news briefs

Some lawmakers will get paid when attending Christmas party
BATON ROUGE (AP) — State lawmakers will have their Christmas party at the Capitol this week, and many of them won’t have to pay out of pocket for their travel costs to attend the festivities.
The Christmas party is Thursday. Meanwhile, at least 10 legislative committees and study panels have set meeting dates for Wednesday and Thursday in Baton Rouge.
That means members of those committees will get mileage reimbursement and the daily per diem rate of $150 for attending their meeting — at the same time they’ll be in town for the party.
Some of the committees would have met this week as part of their normal schedule, like the joint House and Senate budget committee and the Bond Commission. Others have no votes to be taken and will be hearing presentations.

Sentence: 2 years, repay Social Security $350,000
LAFAYETTE (AP) — U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley says a New Iberia man has been sentenced to two years in prison for lying to get $352,000 in Social Security benefits.
A news release says U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Foote also ordered 53-year-old Buddy Estelle to repay $352,937.20.
He was sentenced Monday, 14 months after pleading guilty to lying to the Social Security Administration.
Court documents state that Estelle had received disability benefits since 1984, and told agency staffers in 2011 that he hadn’t worked since 2000. He acknowledged that since 2000, he’s owned a business that buys and crushes cars for scrap.
Estelle was indicted on two counts of making a false statement and one of theft. Prosecutors dropped one false statement count and the theft charge in a plea agreement.

N.O. reassigns officers, resulting in court closure
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Activity at New Orleans’ Municipal Court came to a halt Monday after three sections were closed when New Orleans Police reassigned several officers who provide security in the courtrooms.
Judge Desiree Charbonnet said the decision to pull the officers was one that was made with too little time to devise a contingency plan, forcing the suspension of activity in three of the court’s four sections.
The city, in a statement, said 22 officers were being reassigned from places such as the court, District Attorney’s Office and the police department’s record room and put back on the streets. The transfers took effect Sunday.
Of the officers reassigned, 15 were on administrative duty within the department, three provided security support at the Municipal Court, three were assigned to the district attorney's office and one was assigned to the Department of Sanitation.
“This plan has been in the works for weeks,” City Hall spokeswoman Garnesha Crawford said in a statement. “Judge Charbonnet gave her word that she would help make this work because everyone agrees we should have as many officers on the street as possible.”

State audit cites
welfare agency lapses
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A state audit finds some welfare recipients may be improperly receiving benefits because of record-keeping lapses at the state agency administering the program.
The auditor also noted improper financial controls that allowed theft of more than $150,000 by former employees of the agency’s audit division, as well as five employees who received $43,529 in improper benefits from agency-administered programs.
The legislative audit released Monday covered activities of the state Department of Children and Family Services during the fiscal year that ended June 30.
DCFS Secretary Suzy Sonnier did not specifically concur or disagree with the findings and recommendations the auditor made for corrective action.
However, Sonnier wrote in an audit response that the small samplings were not indicative of the work performed by agency employees.

Plan aims to upgrade
safety at Lafourche schools
THIBODAUX (AP) — Lafourche voters could decide May 2 whether to rededicate a portion of a property tax to pay for increased safety measures at parish public schools.
The election would rededicate 4 of 15 mills being used to pay the debt on school construction bonds. School spokesman Floyd Benoit said four mills are projected to bring in more than $3.5 million a year,
The school board will decide Jan. 7 whether to send the issue to voters.
Officials say low interest rates helped save money and repay the construction debt more quickly than expected.
Superintendent Jo Ann Mathews said the rededicated money would be used to add school police officers and install wiring for alarm systems, new door locks and create single-point entry systems at school.

Sheriff wants voters
to reconsider property tax
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman will ask voters a second time to approve a ballot proposition that would allow the Sheriff’s Office to use money from an existing property tax to pay for a series of expensive reforms at Orleans Parish Prison.
The proposition, which Gusman estimates would generate $4.4 million a year to cover jail expenses, would not increase the current millage rate levied, but it would give the sheriff wider latitude in how he spends the proceeds.
At present, the millage is dedicated to paying off bonds for criminal justice-related construction projects. The ballot measure, if approved May 2, would allow the sheriff to use the money instead to defray the mounting cost of a federal consent decree.

Workers’ comp insurance rates dropping in 2015
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Fewer workplace injuries and less severe ones will result in lower Louisiana worker’s compensation insurance rates in 2015, the second year in a row and the seventh time in 10 years that rates have fallen.
The Department of Insurance reports the 2.4 percent decrease in worker’s compensation loss costs, or claim expenses, will be effective May 1.
The National Council on Compensation Insurance, a national organization that analyzes worker’s compensation data and files loss costs or rates in 35 states, asked for the rate cut.
The Insurance Department says most worker’s compensation carriers in Louisiana use the NCCI annual loss cost filing to formulate their insurance rates.
In 2014, Donelon approved a 5.1 percent decrease in worker’s comp loss costs.
From The Associated Press.