BATON ROUGE — A House committee on Thursday approved two Lake Charles lakefront bills, which now move to the full House. Other Southwest Louisiana bills are also progressing.

Senate Bills 192 and 211, by Sen. Ronnie Johns, R-Sulphur, are the lakefront bills. Both measures, approved unanimously in the Senate, are designed to make technical changes in Lake Charles’ lakefront development.

S.B. 192 would amend the city’s hotel TIF statute. S.B. 211 is designed to add the former Pinnacle casino property to the lakefront so it can be developed under rules guiding lakefront development.

TIF, or tax increment financing, is used to provide funds to develop local projects. Most of the projects are financed using new sales tax funds that are created and collected in a development district. Some projects also use revenues from hotel occupancy and related taxes.

S.B. 192 would amend the Lake Charles TIF statute to include the Pinnacle property to make it eligible for TIF financing. The bill also defines costs, expenses and public improvements that can be financed with TIF funds.

City voters in 2007 approved the city’s plan to lease and develop the lakefront for commercial or residential purposes. The city can build or improve facilities like marinas, hotels, motels, restaurants and housing.

Sales tax funds can be used to finance construction of a hotel or related improvements.

S.B. 38, by Johns, was approved by the House Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs Committee. It deals with the Lake Charles Police Department.

“Present law … defines ‘seniority’ as the total employment computed for an employee beginning with the last date on which he was regularly and permanently appointed to a particular department …,” reads the digest for the bill. “Proposed law retains present law, but makes an exception for the Lake Charles Police Department.”

The digest says that “when a vacant position in the Lake Charles Police Department is filled by a promotion, it shall be by qualified applicants in the order of promotional seniority in the next lower rank.”

The bill was amended in committee to say that when applicants are tied in promotional seniority, department seniority comes into play.

The House has given unanimous approval to S.B. 109, by Johns. It fine-tunes reporting required from the state Department of Health and Hospitals on the privatized Medicaid program.

Medicaid is the federal-state health care program serving the state’s poor and indigent.

Johns was author of the law, designed to evaluate the performance of the Louisiana Medicaid Bayou Health Program, the Louisiana Behavioral Health Partnership and Coordinated System of Care programs.

The bill returns to the Senate for concurrence in changes made by the House.

The Senate has given final legislative approval to H.B. 98, by Rep. Bob Hensgens, R-Abbeville.

“Present law requires the premium costs of group life and accidental death and dismemberment, group health, accident, dental, hospital, surgical, or other medical expense insurance to be paid in full by the clerk of court for the parishes of Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Franklin, Grant, LaSalle, Webster, and Winn, from the clerk’s salary fund for any employee who is entitled to receive monthly benefits from the La. Clerks’ of Court Retirement and Relief Fund and who retires with at least 20 years of full-time service and is at least 55 years of age,” reads the digest.

“Proposed law retains present law and extends requirements relative to the payment of group insurance premium costs to the clerk of court for Cameron Parish.”

Louisiana Legislature

MSgt Toby M. Valadie