Support for Louisiana, the state we're in is provided by.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers.

Are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together, together.

We power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.

Saving lives and making people's days is something that you can take with you forever.

Louisiana struggles with an emergency responders shortage.

We chose four issues education, fiscal policies, infrastructure and public safety.

Outlining the key issues in this upcoming election.

The goal is to get to zero state income tax.

That is what everyone measures other states by.

And I think that we are on a path to do that.

A coffee chat with Sharon Hewitt, Republican candidate for governor.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen.

LeBlanc.

And I'm Kara St. Cyr.

Louisiana continues to broil with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and a record setting heatwave.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency through September 9th.

It follows a statewide burn ban issued by the Louisiana fire marshal.

That's right.

Emergency responders statewide are experiencing a rise in calls for heat related illnesses, which can range from dehydration and cramps to convulsions.

As we are seeing record heat and humidity this summer.

Yeah, it's always good to have a game plan if you know that you're going to be outside for an extended period of time.

Make a plan to take breaks frequently, drink lots of water, have access to shade and air conditioning prior to going into the event.

Weather continues to make headlines this week.

Hurricane forecasters are now tracking four disturbances in the Atlantic.

One is headed for the Gulf of Mexico.

But moving on to a different topic as we get closer to October 14th, the gubernatorial primary election, Louisiana Public Broadcasting is committed to providing voters with the information they need to make an informed choice when they go to the polls.

Today, we debut our special LP coverage The Way Forward Election 2023.

It will include a televised gubernatorial debate on September 28.

I'll be doing in-depth coverage of the big issues outlined in The Reset, Louisiana's Future Initiative, spearheaded by the Public Affairs Research Council and the Council for a Better Louisiana.

And I will be hosting our exclusive series Coffee with the Candidates with one on one chats asking candidates where they stand on the big issues nationwide and across Louisiana.

A shortage of emergency responders due to high turnover, job burnout and other factors is putting a strain on 911 services East Baton Rouge.

GM's found one solution that prevents a dwindling workforce is to show a little appreciation for a job well done.

Paramedic Brennan Wells is giving us a behind the scenes look at what happens when EMS picks up a person who has stopped breathing.

This lifesaving CPR machine delivers timed heart compressions.

Once we get this on, it's just we're all just standing around and pushing medicines every 5 minutes and you either get a pulse back.

The CPR pump is one of the advancements delivered by trained emergency responders, often doing thankless jobs.

What kind of skills or personality do you think it takes to do this job?

Adaptability, for sure, because you're not going to go on the same thing all the time.

Let it be what it may, you know, water off a duck's back because we're going to get yelled at a lot.

You know, you can't take that personally.

This is what it is, I guess.

Brennan is paramedic of the year, an award from his peers at East Baton Rouge, EMS, recognizing a job well done, often in stressful situations.

It's always good to get recognition.

It raises morale for employees and that sort of thing.

You know, we're out here every day running the calls.

As busy as they are, as hot as it as outside, sometimes you don't get to hear the thank you's and things like that.

We also don't always get to hear the outcomes of the patients that we drop off at the hospitals.

The Wall of Fame in the lobby displays past award winners since the awards program started decades ago.

Scott Mills joins the Hall of Fame as this year's winner of Communications Officer of the Year.

I mean, it was it really touched me, you know, really deeply.

I'm not used to that.

You know, we don't get that every day doing the job we do.

Scott is on the frontlines working behind the scenes to keep the public safe in a call center that ranks as the only one in the nation to take calls directly.

It's very rare that our department actually is the one that answers the number one calls whenever someone in East Baton Rouge Parish calls 911, the person answering the line is either an EMT or a paramedic level provider.

So they have the medical knowledge to give you instantly.

If you contrast that to other agencies, you know, you might have somewhere that the police department answers it or something like that.

And if you had a medical emergency, they would have to transfer you to somebody else.

So that just a short amount of time, just seconds matter.

Some times, you know, if we can hurry up and get an ambulance en route to the call and give them some pre-arrival instructions prior to the ambulance, getting there can save lives.

I would say we probably get 2000 calls.

That's total in 12 hours, including hang ups where we actually don't talk to somebody.

You know, and or, you know, the open lines being able to help that person that calls calm them down and get them the help they need is probably the most rewarding.

Scott and Brennan belong to a dwindling emergency responder workforce across Louisiana and nationwide.

East Baton Rouge, EMS reports 25 open positions among a staff of 250 employees nationwide.

The demand for EMTs and paramedics is expected to increase 17% in 2030.

Based on changing demographics alone.

There is a nationwide shortage right now of EMT and paramedics all throughout the country.

You'll see examples of 911 centers that are understaffed.

You'll see examples of agencies such as ours that are just always recruiting, and we're always hiring.

According to a 2023 study by the American Ambulance Association, the average turnover rates for EMT and dispatchers hover around 30%.

You'll hire one person and then you lose a person.

So right now, currently, we are obviously hiring paramedics and EMT and AM-T as well.

Add to that increased recruiting competition of licensed EMS practitioners to work in other areas such as hospitals, which leaves fewer licensed practitioners meeting the current demands of ambulance services.

This job can be very rewarding, you know, saving lives and making people's days is something that it shouldn't take with you forever.

Even after you leave the profession, you still can think back on the time that you've spent serving your community.

Efforts to recruit and retain EMTs and paramedics extend to high school programs, acquainting students with the various jobs, and aim to improve access to training and opportunities.

As the emergency responder workforce continues to rebound from the COVID 19 hit, agencies statewide help more people answer the call to serve.

And now we begin our special gubernatorial election coverage.

And that is the way forward.

Election 2023, The committee of 100 for Economic Development, the Council for Better Louisiana and the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana came together to create a list of policy recommendations focused on four key areas Louisiana voters should think about before heading to the polls.

And those are tax policy, infrastructure, public safety and education.

As part of our special coverage for the way forward Election 2023, I sat down with Barry Erwin, president of Council for a Better Louisiana, and Stephen Procopio, the president.

Before we get started, I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to speak with us.

I really appreciate it.

Oh, no.

Actually, let's jump into these questions so the reset initiative can be a good resource to understand the issues we face in Louisiana.

But can you explain exactly what the initiative is and also how it came to be?

Yeah, we started this actually four years ago.

We thought it would be a good idea for our state if three organizations like ours that are all nonpartisan organizations, we don't endorse candidates or give money but can come together and agree on a kind of set of issues that were really important to the state that we could perhaps make a difference.

So we started that four years ago, and we actually had some pretty good successes on some of those issues.

A lot of it had to do with term limits and new people coming in the legislature.

And we felt like the term limits were not as big this year, but it was still a good opportunity to talk to candidates and the public and try and focus attention on these issues.

We chose four issues education, fiscal policies, infrastructure and public safety.

And out of those, we kind of bore down quite a bit and we came up with 55 recommendations out of there.

So we're presenting these two candidates and to the public is ideas for trying to address these issues, which we feel like are all pretty foundational issues for our state.

So really providing context for the Louisiana voter.

Absolutely.

There's a lot of discussion about everything.

Politicians will talk about whatever they want to talk about, but we know that if we can address some of these issues, we can really move Louisiana off of 50th.

And that's really what our goal is.

So let's start with one of the key issues that we're listed, and it's talking about tax policy spending policies.

What do Louisiana voters need to know about them?

Well, I mean, this is crucial.

No matter what you want to do, it's going to involve money that's going to be collecting money in terms of revenue and taxation and spending it.

And we spending it on education, on roads, on public safety.

So you have to get that correct.

On the tax policy, the big thing we would push for is simplicity.

It's not so much about burden, but it's making sure that you're not overly burdening one area, even if the overall revenue stays the same.

And so we have a very complicated system.

I don't care if you're talking about sales tax, income tax, property tax.

It's all extremely complicated and taxes are complicated everywhere.

But in Louisiana, that's one thing we specialize in.

So we we need to simplify that system for everyone.

And then on the budget side, really the big thing we're trying to push there is stability.

And we have some revenue going away that's going to create some challenges.

And so we really trying to create a stable budgeting system that's so that, you know, the agencies like higher education, other places have the ability to plan in advance.

And like you were saying, I mean, the budget is really the key to everything, all of those issues.

That's where it starts.

Exactly.

And I was looking through some of those issues as well.

And for the tax and spending policy issues, it was talking about how this could benefit not only the local Louisianians, but it could also attract more businesses into the state.

It's like it's barely profitable now.

So in order to make sure we look attractive and have a competitive tax system, it's going to require some some work, but it's doable.

And we've made some big changes in the last couple of years, so we know we can get that done.

All right.

So just clearing it up for everybody to be able to understand and also just be more attractive to businesses and just more competitive.

Exactly.

Speaking of, you know, attractiveness or our state's attractiveness, we're losing a lot of our talented people.

I mean, it's called the brain drain of people that are college educated are leaving the state.

And that also falls under the education realm of the key issues that were listed in the reset initiative.

So can you tell me a little bit more about that key issue?

We kind of highlight a couple of things.

I think in our issue area.

One is trying to do something in the high schools that really help our high school students while they're still in high school to get some kind of college credit or a credential while they are still in high school.

Why do we want to do that?

Because too many of our kids do graduate from high school and they don't make the next step to post secondary.

And we know without more than a high school diploma, it's very hard for folks to find good jobs and really for employers to find the people that they're looking for.

So we're doing some things, but we need to do more to try and focus on kind of a post-secondary experience.

Now, it can be college or technical college or skill training, whatever.

But while they're in high school and it seems kind of pie in the sky to say that we're never going to do that.

The fact is we have some high schools in our state that are knocking it out of the park and we need to do a better job of kind of supporting them, but also helping others to really do that and make that connection.

We got to talk about infrastructure.

We can't move forward without talking about infrastructure.

It's something that we use every single day.

Our roads, our bridges.

So let's talk about that particular key issue.

What are some of the infrastructural issues that Louisiana has.

For us in Louisiana?

We've kind of got two problems.

Well, there's really multiple ones, but two that are big ones that we kind of experience.

One is the quality of the roads themselves.

We have a backlog of $18 billion, 18 B, billion with a B billion dollars just for maintenance and, you know, keeping up with the roads that we have in the bridges and all of that infrastructure, that's huge.

The other part is that that doesn't even count.

You know, all the megaprojects that we know, we want a bridge in Baton Rouge, a bridge in Lake Charles, a bridge in Shreveport, 49 North and south.

Those are all hugely expensive projects.

And what's happening in our state, it's happening everywhere, of course, is that we rely on gasoline taxes.

They are a diminishing return on revenue.

They go down as we get more fuel efficient.

And we need to have a long term strategy of how we are going to be able to address some of this going forward.

The good news is we have made some changes to get us wean us off of the gasoline tax just a little bit, not wean us off, but add some other revenue to it.

Now, it's no surprise that public safety made this list.

If you look at what's going on nationwide, there's been an uptick in crime and that increased really after the pandemic.

Right.

But whenever it comes to public safety, what are the recommendations on the reset initiative?

Our biggest concern is that people, because of the pandemic and sort of the social disruption it caused people all afraid and I don't blame them.

But our concern is that then you'll have reactions that are just trying to do something.

So like, well, let's increase sentences in a nothing necessarily shown to be effective.

You want to have effective changes.

So we think there can be criminal justice reform.

But let's not just start tacking on extra sentences to everyone or start putting people in jail.

What are the things that are actually going to lower crime, lower recidivism?

And that could be things like making sure you have better training.

It could just be better systems that can track how long people are supposed to be in jail.

But we have a lot of fundamental work to do.

Our systems are old and I'm not just talking about computer systems, just in terms of calculating the amount of time people are supposed to be in jail is very complicated and a lot of work has to get done there.

But the big system, you know, if we do things like various adjusting of early childhood that will help bring down crimes in the first place, people are still going to commit crimes.

So what can you do?

So you make sure they don't go back into jail after they come out, that they have the skills and are integrated back in society.

They need to make sure that doesn't happen.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for joining us.

I really appreciate it.

Oh, thanks for having us.

Now, if you want to dig even deeper into all of the 55 policy recommendations we just talked about, you can do that.

You can find them on reset Louisiana dot com.

But in the meantime, our gubernatorial election coverage continues.

Karen, you have some insight into some of the issues that we just talked about right here.

So I sat down one on one with the gubernatorial candidates for a little coffee chat.

It's an informal way for viewers to get to know their candidates running for governor.

That definitely sounds really interesting.

Yeah.

So today is actually the debut of Coffee with the Candidates PBS's exclusive series, featuring one on one interviews with each of the top Louisiana gubernatorial contenders.

Learn where the candidates stand on issues important to voters as each joins me for a coffee chat at Frank's restaurant.

Coffee with the candidates as part of the way forward.

Election 2023 LP Special Gubernatorial Election Coverage leading up to LP September 28 Televised Statewide Debate.

In this episode, I sit down with Sharon Hewitt as state senator and Republican running for governor.

Sharon Hewitt is a state senator running as a Republican who has served in the Louisiana legislature since 2016.

She lives in Slidell, and prior to serving as a lawmaker, Sharon was a senior executive and engineer at Shell.

Sharon, thank you so much for joining us here at French Restaurant for our coffee chat.

Now, before we get started, how about a cup of coffee?

I would love that.

And I even brought my own mug.

Of course you did.

Like a good candidate on the campaign trail.

That's exactly right.

I'm going to let Frank have my mug when we're done, though.

How about that?

I'm sure Frank will appreciate it.

All right.

So here is the deal, viewers.

These are the ground rules with our coffee chat.

Everyone of our candidates got the same five questions ahead of time.

They have 7 minutes to answer the questions.

We will be timing the Q&A and I will be keeping track of the allotted time to make sure we stick to our seven minute rule.

So are you ready?

I think so.

All right, so let's take a sip and we'll get started.

So let's start the timer.

Here we go.

First question Louisiana is experiencing an insurance crisis as auto property.

Flood insurance rates continue to rise and some insurance companies will They quit writing policies altogether?

How will you address the affordability and accessibility of insurance for Louisianians?

Well, thank you, Karen, for that question.

And thanks to Frank for hosting us today.

This is an amazing set up and it's so fun to be in the heart of Baton Rouge.

Insurance is probably one of the questions or the issues that I hear the most about as I travel the state.

And some of the emails that I've gotten are heartbreaking.

When people talk about I don't know what I'm going to do, I can't afford my insurance and my mortgage.

And I'm afraid after 20 or 30 years, I'm going to have to walk away from my house where I've raised my family.

And you can just feel the pain.

It is devastating right now to families in Louisiana.

And it's not just because we have more hurricanes than everybody else.

It is because we fundamentally regulate the industry different than other states do.

And so it is a state where many times companies just choose not to write policies here.

And so the best way to lower insurance premiums is to change our regulatory environment so that companies do want to write policies here.

I'll give you one simple example.

In most states, the companies operate under a free market.

They establish their rights themselves and then inform the insurance commissioner in Louisiana.

The insurance commissioner has to approve their rates, which doesn't allow them to manage their risk and their portfolio.

And so when I'm governor, we're going to get all that legislation passed that's going to put us more in line with all the other states and bring our insurance rates down.

All right.

With the state's temporary 8.45 sales tax set to expire in mid 2025, declining gas taxes people pay at the pumps and other changing circumstances affecting our tax structure.

Some say Louisiana is headed toward a fiscal cliff.

What is your plan to create a sustainable tax base and a competitive tax environment?

Well, I do not believe we're heading to a fiscal cliff, first of all, so don't freak out.

You know, we two months ago said that we were anticipating an $800 million shortfall in 25.

Yesterday or last week, a joint budget at the Capitol.

Now they're calling that a $400 million, you know, issue one.

We're not very good at estimating our revenue.

Two years in advance, we're barely good enough at estimating it several months in advance.

So I think that we have to give the market some confidence where businesses want to come and work here.

We have done significant work already in the legislature to lower the tax rates.

The goal is to get to zero state income tax.

That is what everyone measures other states by.

And I think that we are on a path to do that.

All right.

Louisiana has some of the highest incarceration and recidivism rates in the nation.

How are you going to lower crime and improve public safety?

Well, crime is certainly something that is touching everyday families.

One of the bills that I'm really proud of that I passed this last session deals with fentanyl.

You know, the drug that is being laced and counterfeit pills and that students are taking kind of unknowingly about the dangers of doing that.

And those are fatal decisions.

So the bill I passed throws the book at first, second and third offenders of fentanyl so that we can root that out of our community.

Drugs is kind of the base of of of much crime.

Mental health obviously is an issue, and it is also a precursor to crime.

We have to considerably increase our investments in mental health.

We have done a lot of work in the legislature in 2017 to work on nonviolent offenders and reentry programs.

We're doing a terrible job of measuring whether those programs are working.

So I am a data person.

As an engineer.

I want data to measure which of those programs are working and which ones are not.

So we officially have about 3 minutes left.

Two more questions.

Recent studies show that sea levels are rising faster than we can rebuild the coast.

And a consequence of this, of course, it's climate change.

Renewable energy sources such as wind and water and solar power can help combat climate change.

Why is your stance on developing renewable energy sources in Louisiana?

Well, I don't know if you know this, but I was a senior executive for a major oil and gas company in my profession on background.

So I understand the importance of oil and gas to our state.

Internationally, 40% of the world's energy is going to be supplied in the year 2050 by traditional fossil fuels.

So we cannot snub the oil and gas business and the natural resources that we have in our state in Louisiana.

So first of all, we have to continue to support the oil and gas industry.

But it's also smart to broaden your portfolio.

And I support an all of the above energy strategy.

I have provided funding for hydrogen state funding, which is kind of a new evolving area.

We certainly passed legislation to support wind and solar, where the free market wants to establish those kinds of energy sources.

I think that's fine.

We want to make sure we protect the state's interests and make sure that that is going to be a reliable and affordable energy grid for our people.

Minute and a half left statistics show that young people are moving out of Louisiana for better educational business opportunities and quality of life.

How do you intend to stop this so-called brain drain and make Louisiana more attractive for younger generations?

And you have about a minute left.

Perfect.

So I've been in the legislature for eight years now.

I serve as the Senate majority leader.

Probably the thing I'm most proud of, of all 125 bills I passed is my work in education.

I have supported early education.

I have turned the page on literacy and on math and STEM and and work in the high schools that allow more dual enrollment and industry based certifications.

The bottom line is what every parent wants is for our kids to grow up in Louisiana, right?

And to choose to stay and live and work here so we can grow old with our grandkids.

And the the foundation for that and the silver bullet is education.

And then working backwards so that we're providing that ever changing pipeline education pipeline so that we're preparing our students for the skills that our employers need.

We want our employers to hire people from Louisiana to stay in Louisiana, go to work here.

And I think I have a game plan for do that and a track record for having done a lot of work in this area.

And that is time.

All right.

That's a wrap.

Now, before we go, I have one last question.

This is my bonus question.

You ready?

I'm ready.

Biscuits or bananas?

That's a no brainer.

We are franks, right?

Famous for biscuits?

I am absolutely going for the biscuits.

Right.

Okay.

Oh, my gosh.

Look at that.

Thank you.

Even better than advertised.

All right.

Well, I absolutely love that she brought her own coffee cup cups.

She definitely came prepared.

That's a great thing.

The candidates get to show a little bit of their personality while tackling some serious topics.

Yeah, it's a great way to get to know them.

Well, that wraps up tonight's show.

Remember, you can watch anything, be any time, wherever you are, with our help PBS app.

You can catch LBB News and public Affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook and Instagram.

For everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Karen LeBlanc and I'm Kara St. Cyr until next time.

That's the state we're in.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers.

Are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together.

Together.

We power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Zeigler Art Museum located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.