Rayburn funding stays in Senate version of HB1

Funding for Rayburn Correctional Center and four other state prisons remained in the final version of HB1, passed by the Louisiana Senate by a 36-2 vote at 8:27 p.m. Sunday night.

The bill now goes back to the House for another review and vote. Gov. Bobby Jindal has said he will sign the bill if the House approves it.

The bill authorizes 13 administrative, 290 incarceration and three auxiliary positions for Rayburn for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The House had cut $27.5 million, roughly 5 percent of the total budget of the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DOC), earlier in the legislative session. Those proposed cuts prompted DOC Secretary James M. LeBlanc to send letters to the wardens of the five prisons, outlining the state's "layoff timetable" and setting July 17 as the employee termination date. The memo, which was published on wpnewsblog on Friday, June 3, caused widespread panic in Washington Parish.

This past Wednesday, Sen. Ben Nevers (D, Bogalusa) and Sen. Jack Donahue (R, Covington) explained that money had been moved around. Donahue is a member of the finance committe, while Nevers was deeply involved in helping find funding to keep Rayburn open.

The committee’s members said they tried to maintain the spirit of the House’s version by matching one-time money to one-time expenses. The shuffling — including the use of $55 million in leftover hurricane recovery funds — resulted in a restoration of the $200 million in funding that the House cut.

(Published first at http://www.wpnewsblog.blogspot.com)

Senate reconvenes at 2:30 Sunday, resumes work to keep prison funding secure for 2012

Time is running out on the 2011 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature and by this time next week, there will either be tears of joy or despair in Washington Parish, along with four other parishes in the state.

That’s because HB1, the state’s budget bill, will have been settled and five state prisons — including B.B. “Sixty” Rayburn Correctional Center in Angie, will know the future of the facility and its employees.

The final push for funding begins when the Senate reconvenes at 2:30 p.m. Sunday to continue the review of the bill. After the Senate is finished, the bill will go back to the House for a final vote. Gov. Bobby Jindal has said that he will sign the bill if the House agrees with the Senate’s work.

The legislation has been much discussed since word first came out that $25 million in budget  cuts to the Louisiana Department  of Public Safety and Corrections budget would result in the closure of the prisons.

This past week, however, senators went over the bill with a fine-tooth comb — reversing some cuts made in the House and moving money around from department to department and agency to agency.

On Wednesday, members of Senate Finance Committee announced they had worked to the point that closure of the prisons could be avoided.

“I'm under the impression that the way that we handled it is going to not require any closure of any prisons," Sen. Jack Donahue (R-Covington).

“They shuffled some funding around, things the House didn’t consider,” Sen. Ben Nevers (D, Bogalusa) said. “Money is back in the appropriations bill to fund keeping Rayburn open.”

The House had cut $27.5 million, roughly 5 percent of the total budget of the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DOC), earlier in the legislative session. Those proposed cuts prompted DOC Secretary James M. LeBlanc to send letters to the wardens of the five prisons, outlining the state's "layoff timetable" and setting July 17 as the employee termination date. The memo, which was published on wpnewsblog on Friday, June 3, caused widespread panic in Washington Parish.

"It would seem hard that with a 5 percent cut, it would trigger the closing of all these prisons," said Donahue, "but as they gave testimony, you could start to understand what some of the problems were. I believed them, so we did our best to try to restore those funds."

There are more than 300 employees at Rayburn — and the four other prisons have similar personnel counts. Rayburn must cut 46 positions before the start of fiscal year 2012 on July 1. Thus far, according prison officials, 31 slots have been eliminated through attrition

The Governor's Office said Wednesday they were working through the details of the Senate plan, but said they believe if the House approves it, the five prisons can be kept open.

The 2011 regular session of the Louisiana legislature ends Thursday, June 23.

Funding restored for Rayburn, four others as Senate Finance Committee moves funds

Sen. Ben Nevers

On Wednesday, the 15-member Senate Finance Committee took steps they think will keep five state prisons, including Angie's Rayburn Correctional Center, open.

"I'm under the impression that the way that we handled it is going to not require any closure of any prisons," Sen. Jack Donahue (R-Covington) said following the early morning meeting.


The news was first reported on WWL-TV and radio.

Sen. Jack Donahue

Members of the finance committee voted to move money around and restore cuts to the Louisiana Department of Corrections. The full Senate is expected to take up the re-worked budget Friday, and then it will go back to the House.


“They shuffled some funding around, things the House didn’t consider,” Sen. Ben Nevers (D, Bogalusa) said. “Money is back in the appropriations bill to fund keeping Rayburn open.”


The House had cut $27.5 million, roughly 5 percent of the total budget of the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DOC), earlier in the legislative session. Those proposed cuts prompted DOC Secretary James M. LeBlanc to send letters to the wardens of the five prisons, outlining the state's "layoff timetable" and setting July 17 as the employee termination date. The memo, which was published on wpnewsblog on Friday, June 3, caused widespread panic in Washington Parish.


"It would seem hard that with a 5 percent cut, it would trigger the closing of all these prisons," said Donahue, "but as they gave testimony, you could start to understand what some of the problems were. I believed them, so we did our best to try to restore those funds."


If Rayburn was closed, more than 300 Washington Parish jobs would be eliminated.


Nevers, who has been very involved in the budget negotiations, met with Rayburn employees last week.


"I told them, give us time to work through this situation and I asked them to have confidence in their legislators and let us do our job over here. And they have," Nevers said. "Certainly they call, they're very concerned, but I feel much better today."


There are more than 300 employees at Rayburn — and the four other prisons have similar personnel counts.


The Governor's Office said Wednesday they were working through the details of the Senate plan, but said they believe if the House approves it, the five prisons can be kept open.


"I made a comment to you before, they would close Rayburn over my dead body and I stand by that. I'm not planning on dying, I'm going to be around and I plan for Rayburn to still be open," Nevers said.


The 2011 regular session of the Louisiana legislature ends Thursday, June 23.

'Worst case' prison memo causes panic

A worst-case scenario memo from state Secretary of Public Safety and Corrections James LeBlanc to wardens at five prisons, including Bobby Tanner at Rayburn Correctional Center, has caused widespread panic in Washington Parish.

The memo was sent to Rayburn, David Wade Correctional Center in Homer, Avoyelles Correctional Center in Cottonport, J. Levy Debadie Correctional Center in Pineville and C. Paul Phelps Corrections Center in DeQuincy.

In the three-paragraph memo sent Thursday, LeBlanc told wardens to, "Proceed immediately in implementing a layoff for all positions at your institution."

LeBlanc attached a 16-step tentative layoff timeline "to affect a layoff on July 17, 2011 COB." Key steps in the memo include sending a general notice to employees and submitting a layoff plan to civil service officials on Tuesday, June 21.

Ryan Seal, director of the Washington Economic Development Foundation, told wpnewsblog he was aware of a story posted on a regional television station's website, but that he thought, "It (closing) is not a done deal. I believe this is something they have to do in the event of a worst-case scenario and a budget deal cannot be worked out."

The possible closures are the result of $27.5 million in budget cuts to the DOC and an ongoing battle between Gov. Bobby Jindal and state legislators.

Rayburn officials are currently eliminating 46 jobs to meet previously announced budget cuts. Should the budget impasse fail to be resolved, Washington Parish would lose 350 jobs on top of the previously announced 149 from Sitel's closing and 12 positions with the Bogalusa City Schools.

(Published first at http://www.wpnewsblog.blogspot.com)

Who is highest paid state employee in parish?

Did you ever wonder what state employee makes the most money in Washington Parish?

Well, according to the website http://www.louisianasunshine.org, there are two who shared the No. 1 spot in 2010 — both physicians at LSU-Bogalusa Medical Center or, as it is still carried in state payroll records, Washington-St. Tammany Regional Medical Center.

Dr. Richard Colon and Dr. Hamid Hussain both earned $350,000 while carrying the designation of Physician I. They earned the same amount in 2009.

Four other physicians — all at LSU-BMC — earned more than $225,000 in 2010. Those four were Mark D. East at $290,000, Rojina Jasani at $250,000, Anthony T. Pham at $240,000 and Maria Buenaflor at $227,000. Pham was listed as director while the other three were shown as Physician I staff members.

Other high-profile state employees in the parish, their job description and salary for 2010 included:
  • Dennis LaRavia, Med. Dept. Dir., Rayburn Correction, $180,000
  • Kurt Scott, CEO, LSU-BMC, $163,862
  • Jerry A. Thomas, Physician I, LSU-BMC, $145,600
  • Regina Runfalo, COO, LSU-BMC, $102,761
  • William Wainwright, Dean, LTC System, $98,788
  • Bobby Tanner, warden, Rayburn Correction Center, $93,434
  • Beverly Sheridan, Dir.-In-Service Ed., LSU-BMC, $92,144
  • Richard Friend, Dir., LSU Fam. Med. Clinic, $82,500
  • Henry Harrison, Assoc. Prof., LSU Ag Center, $73,923

The highest-paid state employee overall, according to the website, was John Lombardi, president of the LSU Board of Supervisors. Lombardi was paid $550,000 in both 2009 and 2010.

The website details records for 189,852 state workers and a total payroll of $8,422,808,835 in 2010. The average pay was $44,365 was a minimum of $0 and a maximum of $550,000.

The website can be found at www.louisianasunshine.org/payroll. There are a number of search options available.