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.

And everybody who is a freshman next year, they will be taking financial literacy in 11th and 12th grade for our course.

Financial literacy, the newest course for Louisiana students.

And you have to have contact with the outside world, not only in the United States, but all across the world.

And if you don't have broadband access, you don't have an Internet connection that's a bit hard to do that.

Internet access will expand in Louisiana.

211 years of our existence.

That has never happened before.

The governor restores 100 million and funding cuts to the state health department.

This is something that was developed.

Over years.

And it's been proven.

A new program offers Louisiana homeowners funds to fortify their roofs to reduce storm damage.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Kara St.Cyr.

And I'm Karen LeBlanc A groundbreaking move with the Supreme Court comes to a head and Louisiana justices remove the hold that they put on lower court's decision to redraw the congressional maps.

That means that lawmakers will have to revisit the drawing board and add another black voting district, which is what the Fifth Circuit Court judge, Shelly Dick, ordered last year.

This move comes after the Supreme Court sided with voters in Alabama requesting a second majority black district.

So much more on those top stories in a moment on this week's edition of SWI.

But first, here are some of the headlines from across the state.

The National Weather Service is issuing excessive heat warnings for most of Louisiana, according to the Weather Service.

Air temperatures over the next few days will exceed 100 degrees, with humidity registering over 50% in some areas of the state, making this a very dangerous heat index.

Louisiana is celebrating LSU, baseball's College World Series win with a big welcome home for the team at Alex Boch Stadium.

Thousands turned out to honor the LSU Tigers seventh national title and its first national championship since 2009.

LSU beat Florida in the final two of three games to take the title.

Fans also congratulated LSU's Dylan Cruise for winning the 2023 Golden Spikes Award given to the best player in college baseball.

Governor John Bel Edwards restored the $100 million in budget cuts to the Louisiana Department of Health, avoiding serious potential cuts in health services for citizens.

The Louisiana legislature, in the final minutes of the fiscal session approved the cuts.

Many lawmakers claiming they had no idea what the cuts were all about.

The budgetary maneuver avoids more than a $700 million potential loss of funds to the health department.

But the bigger issue is how did this happen in the first place?

Here's more.

Governor John Bel Edwards signed House bill number one of the 2023 session, while also using his line item veto authority on five items, including one that restores the $100 million reduction in funding to the Louisiana Department of Health to protect against, as he says, quote, devastating programmatic cuts.

The governor's veto follows a letter from the Senate Health and Welfare Committee asking the governor to restore the cuts.

As many legislators questioned the wisdom of reducing health department funding in a year where the state had a two and a half billion dollar surplus.

We're basically axing the governor to use his veto pen to correct a mistake that should have been corrected on the Senate floor.

State Senator Frank Mills serves as the chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee charged with examining how the proposed cuts could impact public health services.

But that type of cut with a budget surplus that would equate to almost $800 million of cuts to health care.

It should have just been done in a more thoughtful situation where all 144 legislators had a point to debate it.

Many lawmakers say they were caught off guard by the health Department cuts as they raced against the clock to pass a state budget before the 6 p.m. mandated adjournment of the 2023 fiscal session.

The unexpected news reached the state Health Department secretary minutes before the session ended.

I had around 530 told folks we could kind of stand down.

It's looking like after we testify that we're looking good.

So on my way home, I got a call saying, hey, we've been cut 100 million in state general fund.

I thought it was a joke, to be honest with you.

I think everybody just really was caught off guard.

And, you know, it was just something we didn't foresee and was not prepared for.

And as we've had time to digest it more, we recognize that this is not moving our state in the right direction.

Lawmakers were left with sticker shock over the grand total of funding cuts when factoring in the loss of federal match dollars.

You're looking overall at around a 400 to a $700 million total impact, depending upon where where the reductions come from.

So let's back up to how lawmakers and the health department ended up in this conundrum in the first place.

At the end of the fiscal session, lawmakers were debating whether to raise the spending cap making way for the appropriation of budget surplus dollars.

The delay on approving a higher spending cap created a bottleneck in the bill debate.

I went to the floor when it came over and I asked the members, I said, we have the opportunity.

We're running out of time.

Let's move this resolution to committee to discuss whether or not we want to raise the cap.

Is it a good thing?

And look, bringing it to committee early would give us more time on the back end to say, okay, whether we did it or not, now we have time to look at the actual bills and to see what's in them and to be able to do those things.

So fast forward to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee with Secretary Rousseau presenting lawmakers with a list of potential cuts.

We basically thought that the cuts would be devastating not only to the recipients of care in Louisiana, but the network of care.

If we're not paying our providers the adequate amount of money to be paid to take care of our Medicaid patients and our indigent patients.

We will blow up the provider base.

The crystallizing moment in this meeting was the realization that the health care cuts equated to cost shifting a zero sum game with a domino effect.

Some lawmakers reacted by writing a letter to the governor requesting him to restore the 100 million in state funds to the health department.

The fallout from the frenzied budget vote has some asking is there a lesson to be learned from what went down in the final moments of the legislative session?

Do you feel this power, feel that there might have been a better way to handle things in the end to avoid the 11th hour voting chaos?

Oh, absolutely.

I mean, they should have had this in a perfect world.

They would have this a day or two and a head.

And then people can see what the amendments are.

But even without that, they should have had at least more communication with the leaders and with the public and said, hey, look, this is a summary document of everything that's happening that would be easily available for everyone.

Well, I think that there's going to be from this situation, I think the legislature's going to be looking at more mandated timelines.

So we've talked about rulemaking changing changes to ensure that in the future that there are so many hours that the budget has to be received.

It has a layover that it has to be reading growth.

A re engrossed bill has the amendments added in for lawmakers to read.

Now, one of the challenges in this past fiscal session was a lack of time to read all of the amendments.

Most colleagues out there agreed that budget that we passed was a sound good conservative budget and it did everything that our state needed us to do at this time.

House Speaker Sheik Snyder points out the positive that lawmakers passed a bill putting two and a half billion dollars in the state savings account.

That has never happened in the history.

211 years of our existence that has never happened before.

You look at the debt payment that we made, $618 million in debt payment.

As the governor continues to wield his veto pen.

The mix of nixed bills could call legislators back to the state capitol for a special session.

So what is the likelihood, in your opinion, of ending up in a special session?

I believe that out of nine out of ten, maybe 99%, because I don't think that this is the only issue that will be addressed.

A veto override session is automatically scheduled once the governor finishes reviewing and rejecting legislation, unless a majority of the House or Senate votes not to have the session.

Broadband Internet access became a priority for Louisiana at the beginning of the pandemic.

But funding proved to be a hurdle as lawmakers and broadband experts raise to expand connectivity.

The Biden-Harris administration just allocated $1.3 billion in aid, and that'll help Louisiana close the digital divide.

Here's how that money can help aid the state in connectivity.

The Biden-Harris administration announced this week that the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, that very long name, is awarding Louisiana $1.3 billion to increase connectivity in the state.

Now, this has been a goal of Governor John Bel Edwards since he started in office.

So can you tell me a little bit about Louisiana's journey to expand Internet access in the state?

The state has been attempting to do this for a long time, but there was pushback from the previous administration in 2011, which was only 12 years ago.

Governor Jindal had an opportunity to get $80 million in broadband expansion and rejected it because he felt it was a worthy expenditure from the federal government.

But if he had taken it that at that time the projection was that it would provide broadband to 21 parishes 900 miles and it would help 400,000 people in the state get access to broadband that they did not have, and 300,000 of those 400,000 still don't have.

So here we are 12 years later, and this will take a while, of course, to implement.

But it appears that by the end of the decade, everybody in Louisiana will have access to high speed Internet and to broadband.

All right.

And Governor Edwards would have met his goal even if he's out of office whenever it happened.

I mean, how is he feeling about this 1.3 billion?

I think he views it as an accomplishment.

And it had to occur through a variety of methods.

And one of those was that he has a friendly administration in Washington and President Biden, who he supported.

But he also was quick to credit Senator Cassidy, who, of course, was a Republican, and Congressman Troy Carter, a Democrat.

He said they carried the ball for the state and they did a good job because carried by most analysis, this is like the eighth largest expenditure for any state in the country.

And Louisiana is the 25th largest state.

So that means we're getting more per capita than almost any other state.

And I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that Governor Edwards is in good stead.

We're in a state where a lot of people are underserved.

And Senator Cassidy and Congressman Carter did an exceptional job lobbying for Louisiana.

All right.

So like you were saying, 2029, that seems like a very long time for now.

What's the entire process of getting this implemented?

What are they looking at doing to get the ball rolling quicker?

Well, it's it's kind of like building a road.

It's just doing it in a different way through the cyber world.

But it takes time and it takes money and people and it will take, it looks like six years to complete the job.

But along the way, more and more people will be getting access.

So the 300,000 will go to 250 and 200.

And then presumably by 2029, everybody in the state will have access to this.

And Louisiana, 30 years later will join the 21st century.

During the 21st century.

Well, we are moving into an election year.

Is this grant set in stone?

Is it possible that the money could be allocated elsewhere?

It's a federal grant, so it appears that this one is set in stone.

And this was a big win.

And the governor, of course, is taking a victory lap, as any governor would.

And it's just curious that his predecessor has not or did not find federal money to be that palatable.

Governor Jindal, like many other Republican governors in the South in particular, declined to take Obamacare money, which was at one time 100% from the federal government.

Still is 90%.

Governor Edwards, on his first day in office, he took that money and when And now every candidate for governor is indicating he will take it regardless of party affiliation.

And now the broadband money's the same way.

We're in a new world that the state has to adapt to.

And it's taken us a bit late to come to the party, but we're getting there.

And presumably by 2029, we'll we will have caught up to most of the rest of the country, which already has close to 100% access.

So we talked a lot about the 300,000 or the almost 300,000 people in Louisiana that don't have Internet access and need it.

Does the governor talk about exactly where those locations are and what his goal is with implementation in these particular areas?

Well, many of them are in rural areas, so we're talking areas generally outside of New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

But still 300,000 people in a state with 4.6 million.

That's a lot of people.

That's a substantial that's well over 5% of the population that's affected by this.

So it's something that's long overdue.

And for the state to really advance in those areas, not only are rural there, the most impoverished areas in the state of Louisiana, and I can only imagine trying to run a business.

And today when when running a business, even if it's a mom and pop in a small town, it's become a global operation.

You have to have contact with the outside world, not only in the United States, but all across the world.

And if you don't have broadband access, you don't have an Internet connection.

It's a bit hard to do that.

And nearly one month into the hurricane season and attention turns toward how to reduce potential property risk from storm damage, homeowners may find some relief from the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program, which provides grant money to strengthen residential roofs.

Here's a look at the program and how and who could qualify.

Hurricane Ida, which made landfall on August 29, 2021, produced approximately 360,000 residential property insurance claims, totaling more than $7 billion.

That's according to statistics from the State Insurance Department.

Those stats have made property insurance risky business for private companies.

The hope is the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program will attract more coverage at more affordable rates.

We want to fix homes and fortify homes as rapidly and as many as we can, because we are we recognize that we are the bull's eye for hurricanes entering the Gulf.

We've been hit more often by name storms over the past hundred years than Florida and Texas four times more often than those two states on a per capita basis.

The Louisiana Department of Insurance has $30 million in grant money to give out to qualified homeowners to strengthen their roofs up to the fortified roof standards.

Here's an example of a fortified roof here.

Sure.

So a fortified roof, in layman's.

Terms, is basically a. Roofing system that is designed to be more resilient and to withstand natural disasters, high winds, hurricanes, etc., better than a typical roofing system.

In August, homeowners can apply for the funds.

Eligibility requires that residential properties have homestead exemptions.

It's residential homeowners that are eligible to get these grants of between 2000 and $10,000.

If you're building new construction, it will probably be $2,000.

But if you're taking your old roof off, putting a new roof too fortified standards on, it's going to be 10,000.

In order to get the grant money.

A homeowner needs to hire a roofer certified with a fortified roofs program.

What do consumers need to know when they're looking for a qualified roofer with the program?

So there are some steps involved for a roofer and installer for fortified, you have to have the proper education and certification.

Not all roofers are certified fortified installers, so we have that designation.

Another key point to know is you have to have an evaluator work hand in hand with your installer.

So this isn't something that a roofer can do on their own.

There's a third party involved.

It's called the 4 to 5 Evaluator.

And they work together with your roofing installer to make sure that things are installed correctly through from the beginning to the end.

Each process is documented by the evaluator and made sure that it's done correctly.

One essential element of the fortified roof is sealed decking.

So typically when a storm happens, if a roof blows off, the water penetrates through the the seams of the deck.

But on a fortified system, your decking is actually sealed.

So even if your shingles do blow off, your deck is still sealed and you have minimal water seepage through your roofing system.

Legislators also passed a law guaranteeing that homeowners get an insurance premium discount for fortifying their roofs.

We anticipate it will be about a 20% homeowner premium reduction, and that's not insignificant for folks who are.

And I point out with our working cost, as I mentioned.

We need schoolteachers, firefighters, restaurant workers, all of the above to live and work in those coastal communities.

A vital part of our state's economy and as I mentioned earlier, important to America.

From ocean to ocean.

The $30 million funding the fortified roof grants is a one time source that lawmakers allocated from this year's budget surplus.

The program is modeled off a similar successful program in Alabama.

This is something that was developed over years.

Millions of dollars in research went into these systems and it's been proven.

So we know this works.

You spend a little bit more money to get this system, but you make that money back because you get a deduction in your annual.

Insurance premium every year.

And then you have the peace of mind of knowing.

That you're safe.

You know, your home is going to be in good shape.

The Louisiana Department of Insurance in August will open up applications for the 4 to 5 roof grants on their website and anticipates awarding the funds in October.

Studies show people normally learn financial literacy as an adult through trial and error.

The National Endowment for Financial Literacy ranked Louisiana students 48th in financial capability.

But Governor John Bel Edwards just recently signed a bill to require all high school students to take a course so they can understand financial literacy from beginning to end.

Take a look.

You authored a bill that would require financial literacy courses to be taught to high schoolers.

How did you come up with the idea?

So I was actually reading an article on CNBC about two years ago, and it was discussing how states and specifically students are just very financially illiterate.

And so I came up with the idea.

I reached out to a guy named Tim Raines Zeta, who runs a nonprofit that that's his goal is to push, you know, financial literacy.

And I said, Tim, what is it going to take?

You know, what can I do to make this bill a reality in Louisiana?

Very proud of the bill.

It's actually the 22nd.

We're the 22nd state in the nation to do this.

So there's a lot of people behind us are following us, I should say, and a very positive outlook for what's going to happen for our students.

So we mentioned financial literacy, and I'm sure people have their idea of what that means.

But in your bill, what exactly does that outline?

So it's going to be a many things.

Business, credit lines of credit, how interest works, how to how to balance a checkbook.

We're considered the gold standard.

My bill was the gold standard bill that says that we're going to teach it for a whole year.

It's a required course.

And, you know, it's going to teach people about, you know, when you go to college that credit card, there's a 20% credit card interest rate in that that you didn't maybe think about.

You know what happens if you don't pay that credit card all time?

Things that you and I may take for granted because we're a little older and wiser, but that our students need to learn on the beginning of their lives.

I don't know if I'm taking it for granted.

If I have to pick up the phone and call my mom and ask for help.

Well, look, when I ran the bill to one of the local stations, ran an article about it, and they were interviewing some students from LSU, and everybody was very positive on the bill.

And they said the same thing.

You said, you know, they they didn't get the kind of education that they needed to learn.

You know, these kinds of tools for their future.

Yeah, you're kind of just thrown into it in adulthood.

It's just like, okay, good luck.

Right, Exactly.

So for these students that are going to have these courses, I mean, when is it expected to actually hit schools and who's going to help develop the curriculum?

So it starts next year.

But it only applies to 11th graders.

So if you're a freshman next year, then in 11th grade you'll get it.

So really, it starts in about three years.

And the reason we want to do that is we're requiring this for top.

So it's a required course and we wanted to make sure we could roll it out timely.

And it didn't hurt anybody as far as, you know, getting into college and things of that nature.

It's so it's going to be one of those courses that you're going to be required to take.

And, you know, I got a little pushback because people are saying, well, you know, your your limiting students.

And my response to them was, when's the last time you've used calculus algebra in your everyday life?

You know, they will still have the opportunity to do these electives.

And, you know, if they want to take calculus, so be it.

Now, as far as the curriculum, every school district will have their own curriculum.

And the way we've kind of envisioned it is that they will invite financial planners and bankers and local community leaders to teach them about certain topics and kind of make it a little more interesting, more hands on.

So that's the vision that I see for.

But ultimately, the bill, I wanted to have some leniency or leeway for the local school districts to do what they felt was best for their community.

So that's how it's going to roll out.

All right.

So this is coming in.

You said three years, three years coming and three.

Says everybody who's a freshman, next year, they will be taking financial literacy in 11th and 12th grade and it required course.

All right.

So hopefully in Louisiana, we'll have way more financial literate people.

So we're 50th in the nation in financial literacy, I predict will be higher up on that number in a few years.

And I'm excited to see if this works out for us, and I think it will.

Is there anything that you wanted to say that I didn't ask?

Well, I thought the most compelling part of the whole process was during the legislative session.

It was late one evening and I was going to handle the bill late that night.

It was about 8:00 at night.

And the bills prior to this bill were very contentious.

And there was a lot of dissent in the in the House.

And you can feel the tension and anxiety of the, you know, all these contentious bills coming through.

When I went up to do the bill, I said, you know, let's talk about something that's going to be positive for the state that's going to really make a difference in our children's lives.

And everybody started clapping.

And so everybody one of the members stood up and said, this is a bill that unifies everybody.

It's a bill for Democrats, Republicans and independents.

It's it's something that can be done.

So I felt very positive about it.

We got 95 coauthors, and to my knowledge, there was no votes against the bill.

So it was a feel good moment in the House, and I enjoyed that moment.

Well, everyone, that's our show for the week.

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

You can catch LPB 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, Twitter 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 B and Ruth B Zigler Foundation and the Zigler 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.