Barham says, ‘Could we do it? Yeah, we could.’
Governor Bobby Jindal has been advocating canning the lieutenant governor’s office since Mitch Landrieu announced he was running for mayor of New Orleans, and that idea has been elevated now that Landrieu is set to take the reigns of the Big Easy on May 3.
Jindal fleshed out his ideas on what to do with those state agencies managed by the lieutenant governor this morning on WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, and it would include rolling the Office of State Parks into the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
“Can we do it?” asked LDWF Secretary Robert Barham. “Yeah, we could do it. We (LDWF) are the largest lead manager in the state, and we (the two agencies) have similar mindsets.”
Before the Office of Lieutenant Governor is abolished, however, Louisiana voters would have to approve a constitutional amendment.
That said, Barham told LouisianaSportsman.com today that there have been discussions within the Jindal administration “about if this happens: What if?” but he stressed that no decisions have been made.
And Barham said voters shouldn’t expect sweeping changes immediately, even if the departments were combined.
“I wouldn’t propose dramatic changes in advance,” he said. “We would operate (as a combined agency) and decide what changes that would need to be made.”
He did say most of the existing State Parks funding would be necessary to run the combined agency.
“We can’t operate 20 State Parks (without that money),” Barham said. “I’d have to have current money to take it on.”
Such an eventuality would mean the combined agency would receive state General Fund money. Currently, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries receives no General Fund money, and must rely on self-generated sources of revenues.
Combining the two agencies could benefit current LDWF programs from this state-treasury revenue.
“It would certainly open the doors to a different mix of funding,” Barhma said.
He also said savings from combining the two administrations is a possibility.
“There is economy of scale in any business,” Barham said. “Our goal is to streamline and make government more efficient. Am I going to be looking for ways to cut costs? You bet.”
