The largest infrastructure project in northwest Louisiana could be in jeopardy after a small group of lawmakers withdrew about $140 million designated to build a new Jimmie Davis Bridge connecting Shreveport and Bossier in the frantic final minutes of the Thursday’s legislative session.
A handful of lawmakers pulled funding from the state’s annual construction bill (House Bill 2) in likely retaliation against Shreveport-Bossier lawmakers in the House who voted against raising the spending cap from the state so that the Legislature could appropriate surplus dollars for infrastructure projects and pay for them. debt
House members from Shreveport-Bossier who voted against Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 to raise the spending cap included Reps. Dodie Horton of Bossier, Raymond Crews of Shreveport and Alan Seabaugh of Shreveport, all Republicans.
Horton said she didn’t know funding for the Jimmie Davis Bridge was eliminated until the USA Today Network called her Saturday.
“This is a sickening example of payback and dirty politics and everything that’s wrong with government,” Horton said. “I’m appalled that someone would take this kind of action; it’s an attack on the people of Shreveport-Bossier.”
The bill to increase the spending cap passed the Senate unanimously and passed the House on a vote of 85-19.
Republican House Speaker Tanner Magee of Houma, who was on the conference committee that removed funding for the bridge, said he wasn’t sure if it was done deliberately in retaliation.
Magee did say, “The people who were against spending the money (by voting against raising the cap) weren’t going to get the money. The people who voted for infrastructure got the infrastructure. The people who voted against infrastructure didn’t get infrastructure. You can’t have it both ways.”
But the bridge is actually in the House district of Shreveport Republican Rep. Thomas Pressly, who voted to raise the spending cap, and the Senate district of Shreveport Republican Barrow Peacock, who also voted for the spending additional
“I can’t begin to tell you how devastated I am; I voted for infrastructure and they stabbed me in the back,” said Pressly, who said he learned of the funding cut on Friday. “They’re literally sinking 40,000 people a day who drive over that bridge.”
Pressly noted that while funding for the Jimmie Davis Bridge was eliminated, Acadiana is getting $75 million for a performing arts center and LSU is getting $50 million for a new gym on the Baton Rouge campus .
“What will it take for the rest of the state to realize that Shreveport-Bossier is an essential part of the state?” said Pressly, who earlier in the session criticized LSU’s funding cut for its Shreveport campus.
In fact, the state already awarded the five-year, $361 million Jimmie Davis Bridge project to James Construction earlier this year.
It’s unclear what will happen next, though Horton said he’s confident the money can be restored before the project is derailed.
“It’s not over,” Horton said.
“I’m getting everyone involved that I can and I’m asking them to take whatever means necessary to fix this problem,” Pressly said.
Winnfield Republican Rep. Jack McFarland, chairman of the House Conservative Caucus, said he will also explore ways to restore funding. McFarland was a key negotiator of the deal to raise the spending cap.
“I share the concerns of many members about the potential unconstitutional and unethical impacts of a lack of transparency and adherence to procedures in the closing moments of the session,” McFarland said. “I will work with my colleagues to get a fair resolution.”
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Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Louisiana Network. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
