Gov. Landry on future of Louisiana and upcoming election

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Governor Jeff Landry addressed the Rotary International Club of Shreveport and said the state of Louisiana’s future is in the people’s hands.

The governor says the March 29th election will be pivotal in Louisiana’s history.

“You will look back and you will say that is the day that Louisiana got it right. That is the day where we entrusted our legislature and our Governor with the tools necessary to not only compete in a new industrial south, but to lead it. And that is the day that we get to focus on the greatest nature resource that this state has which is you,” said Gov. Landry.

He says the state is moving forward, with $50 billion worth of construction projects on the books by this summer. But Gov. Landry says voter support is needed to maintain this momentum.

“If you really want us to work on things like insurance reform and infrastructure programs, and other things, then we need the bandwidth to be able to do that and a vote- having that amendment fail is going to really cause a lot of turmoil inside of our budget. What happens is we go back to the old same old same old under which the only where we can cut are education and healthcare and that’s not fun, we’ve seen that play out,” said the governor.

He says major projects, like Meta’s AI data center coming to Northeast Louisiana will be an anchor in driving economic development from east to west.

With the election rapidly approaching, the governor says insurance reform will be a main focus. Landry says the legislature will give the insurance commissioner the power to lower insurance rates.

“I mean we keep making changes that the insurance companies say save them money and I believe they do because when they report to Wall Street they’re making record profits. But yet none of that is being driven down to the policy holder. I mean those are the facts,” said Landry.

He says voting against the amendments, especially Amendment 2, will put interests at risk.

“We can’t give teachers a permanent pay raise, we can’t give a double deduction to our seniors to keep them in Louisiana, we can’t lower your income tax and ultimately get your income tax down to zero, we can’t manage the financial affairs of this state, we can’t put a limit on government spending,” said Landry.

Election day is March 29th.

“Louisianas get to see change happening in a positive direction from right now. These companies that have invested in Louisiana have hedged a bet that the people of Louisiana are smart enough to recognize that change, and we’ll see on Saturday if they are,” said Gov. Landry.