The Committee of 100 for Economic Development, the Council for A Better Louisiana and the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana today unveiled their 2023 RESET Louisiana issues initiative for this year’s state elections.
The 55 policy recommendations and nine policy briefings focus on four key areas:
- Enacting tax and spending policies that make sense and enhance Louisiana’s competitiveness with other states.
- Improving Louisiana’s education system at all levels to increase education attainment and strengthen the state’s workforce.
- Building a better infrastructure from roads and bridges to coastal protection, ports and broadband.
- Strengthening public safety through thoughtful, evidence-based policies.
“This is a critical election year for Louisiana,” said Michael Olivier, CEO of the Committee of 100. “We will elect a new governor and many new legislators, and together our organizations believe this year’s campaigns need to be driven by issues and not by political distractions.”
The RESET policy briefings provide concise coverage of issues in an easy-to-understand format for citizens and candidates. They cover nine major policy areas: early childhood education, K-12 education, postsecondary education and workforce training, taxes, budget, pension reform, the state constitution, infrastructure and public safety. The 55 policy recommendations run the gamut from long-term directional principles Louisiana should embrace for the future to specific ideas that state leaders should enact immediately. They are available on the RESET website at Reset-Louisiana.com.
“We recognize these are not the only important issues facing Louisiana,” said Barry Erwin, CABL President. “But it is hard to envision our state making the progress it needs to compete with others if we do not address these critical matters with a sense of urgency.”
The RESET initiative has several aspects to it. Besides developing the policy papers and recommendations, the RESET organizations will be providing extensive outreach to candidates for governor and the Legislature. In 2023 more than 30 legislative seats will be open. A major goal of RESET is to offer new candidates, who may be coming to the Legislature for the first-time, accurate information, data and context on many of the complicated issues they will face if elected.
Another is to provide the public with user-friendly information people can use to inform themselves about major issues and question candidates about how they would address those issues. The RESET organizations will also be travelling the state speaking to civic groups, chambers and other interested parties discussing these and other items.
“Louisiana ranks near the bottom on far too many indicators of well-being,” said Steven Procopio, PAR President. “The problems seem daunting. It took us many years of poor policy choices to get us to where we are today. While there is no quick fix, making the right choices now can turn Louisiana around.”
The RESET initiative began as a unique partnership in 2019 with the goal of informing citizens and candidates about the state’s core problems and the improvements needed to address them. That effort yielded notable successes including:
- Voter approval of major tax reforms.
- Expanded access to high-quality early learning programs.
- Enactment of policies to prepare high school students for the workforce or college.
- Targeted reinvestments in higher education to improve quality and expand access.
- New funding to combat recidivism and smooth the reentry process for offenders in the criminal justice system.
- Substantial new investments of state dollars to address the state’s road and bridge needs.
The Committee of 100, CABL and PAR are all nonpartisan organizations with long track records of success in promoting policies to reform state government, enact sound fiscal policies, improve public education, strengthen the workforce and support economic development. They do not endorse candidates or contribute to political campaigns.