House Speaker Addresses Concerns

The House Speaker of the Louisiana Legislative body was in Monroe on August 26,2024, to address citizens' concerns about what the legislature's goals are in the coming years. House Speaker Phillip DDeVillier's visit to Monroe comes on the heels of Gov. Jeff Landry, who gave his state of the state address on the status of Louisiana since he became governor. As DeVillier travels from parish to parish across Louisiana, the concerns that he hears are the same. While saying that there are three things close to his heart, those being faith, hope, and love, DeVillier also knows that work by the legislature to meet those concerns is needed. The hard work of making decisions to fix the problems faced by the state and not placing a band-aid on them. Some of the concerns raised were housing and medical care, especially in rural areas, where access can be challenging for many in the state. As always, the main sticking point to fixing the problems is funding. Louisiana is not a prosperous state when it comes to spending because of various economic reasons, as our legislators have to become "inventive" to meet many funding issues. At one time, Louisiana used to have a surplus, but now the state has been facing deficit issues, even as the state is facing a $340 million next year, coupled with a $200 million stipend for teachers, increasing the deficit to $540 million. DeVillier believes that a possible solution may be fixing Louisiana's tax structure, fixing our crime problems, and addressing our crumbling infrastructure. Another way would be if "we [LA] could create a state where people will want to come build businesses, take the businesses that we have here and grow those businesses, and hopefully live, work and retire in Louisiana," said DeVillier.