Bobby graduated from Baton Rouge High School in 1988, and later attended Brown University where he graduated with honors in both biology and public policy.

He then attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and received his graduate degree in 1994.

May 05, 2010
Governor Jindal Attends Launching of "Jack Up" Barge in Plaquemines Parish, Highlights Coastal Leaders' Response to Oil Spill

- Gov. announced LANG to build wharf in St. Bernard Parish to help deploy resources -

VENICE – Today, Governor Bobby Jindal joined Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser to launch the parish’s first jack up barge and assess the needs of the parish as coastal leaders aggressively work to mitigate the impact of the oil on the state’s coast. Governor Jindal said the “jack up” barge is critical in the oil spill response efforts because it will serve as a central point to support booming efforts and speed up the deployment of resources. The Governor also announced that the Louisiana National Guard will build a float ribbon bridge at the Shell Beach Marina in St. Bernard Parish. The wharf will extend approximately 300 feet and be used to load boats with booms and supplies.

Governor Jindal said, “Through the leadership of Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish is aggressively moving to protect their coastal resources.  Around 100,000 feet of hard boom is currently being deployed and the parish is also ready to deploy around 24 miles of absorbent boom to supplement hard booming efforts.

“We’re here today to help Plaquemines Parish launch the first jack up barge as part of our work to mitigate the impact of the spill.  This jack up barge will literally save hours of time to deploy resources to fragile areas of our coast. These kinds of barges can also be moved in the event that weather conditions shift and take the oil into another part of Plaquemines Parish – or even another part of our state.

“The entire area east of the Mississippi River remains our top priority since it is the most threatened by the oil spill according to the projections at this time. The plan for the area east of the Mississippi River, developed by the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority with parish leaders identifies 82 closure points to combat the effects of the oil spill on our coast. We also know there will be additional requests for resources as parishes begin deploying the resources they have and identify additional needs – especially in places where the oil begins to impact our wetlands.

“We are also continuing to monitor the projections showing that it is possible for the oil to move west over the next several days and we are asking BP and the Coast Guard to move quickly in approving the plans for parishes on the west side of the river also. The oil in the water remains very dynamic and constantly changing. That’s why it is so important for BP and the Coast Guard to remain in constant communication with local leaders to ensure that plans to combat the spill are adapting as conditions evolve. Our coast is not just the backbone of our industry in Louisiana, it fundamentally is a part of our way of life.”

More information on the state’s response to the BP oil spill can be found on www.Emergency.Louisiana.Gov.

Responding to Emergencies

Apr 29, 2010
Governor Jindal Requests Resources to Protect Louisiana's Coastline

BATON ROUGE – Following reports that part of the oil sheen broke off and will now reach Louisiana’s coast earlier than previously expected, Governor Jindal spoke with Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano this evening to request additional resources from the federal government as the state prepares for the potential impact of the oil spill. Reports this evening indicate that the oil spill could reach the state’s coast by Thursday.

Governor Jindal said, “We learned late this afternoon that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration models now show the oil spill could reach our coast sooner than expected. At this time, the Pass-A-Loutre Wildlife Management Area is expected to see the first impact of the oil spill.

“I spoke with Secretary Napolitano this evening to outline the state’s needs as we brace for the impact of the oil spill on our coast. We appreciate the efforts to date of the Coast Guard and BP as the lead parties. As the oil spill comes closer to our coast, we have asked for additional resources from the Coast Guard and BP as we work to mitigate the impact of the spill on our state.

“By relying on models from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we have identified areas that are in need of additional oil containment booms. We have requested additional booms to cover all the coastal areas that will be impacted by the oil spill. These will protect our coasts and fisheries in the event the oil reaches our shores. We also asked Secretary Napolitano that response teams be on-the-ground and ready to respond when the oil spill reaches our coast.

“Earlier today, we also spoke with BP and requested these same resources, which they agreed to provide.

“Our top priority is to protect our citizens and the environment. These resources are critical to mitigating the impact of the oil spill on our coast.”

Louisiana Has Much at Stake in Health Care Debate

NEW ORLEANS — It is no accident that three of Louisiana’s best-known politicians have been at the center of the national health care debate.

Last month, Anh Cao, the congressman who represents New Orleans, created a ruckus as the sole Republican to vote for the health care bill in the House. Shortly afterward, Senator Mary L. Landrieu, a Democrat, became a crucial vote in support of health care after winning $300 million in Medicaid aid for Louisiana, drawing loud criticism from Republicans for her deal-making.

And the governor, Bobby Jindal, a former state secretary of health, has been one of the most prominent Republicans to offer an alternative proposal for a health care overhaul.

Because of the unique way it delivers health care to the poor, a model that has a long history, Louisiana has a great deal at stake in the outcome of the debate in Washington, which could drastically alter the state’s traditional system. Especially in light of the state’s desperate need for investments in medical care in the years since Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana politicians of both parties are scrambling to make sure their priorities are addressed in the legislation.

“Every state says they’re different, but Louisiana’s really different,” said Alan Levine, the state secretary of health and hospitals. “The impact is going to be felt here before it’s going to be felt anywhere else.”

Louisiana has one of the poorest populations in the country, with all of the problems that generally entails. It has a high percentage of uninsured adults, high rates of chronic disease and an acute shortage of doctors. In most state-by-state measurements, Louisiana regularly ranks at or near the bottom for the health of its residents.

What sets the state apart has been its charity hospital system, which has existed in various forms since the early 18th century, and has been championed for generations by the state’s populist leaders, including the Depression-era governor and senator Huey Long. While other states have public hospitals, they are usually locally operated; care for Louisiana’s poor and uninsured rests squarely on its 10 state-operated charity hospitals.

Critics, including some state and local health officials, have argued that the charity system is archaic and inefficient and have urged a more decentralized approach, with less restrictive Medicaid eligibility requirements, more community health clinics and a greater emphasis on primary care.

Officials from Louisiana State University, which operates the charity hospitals, say that the system has been moving in some of those directions in many areas, but also that there are distinct advantages to a coordinated, institutional approach, like a centralized records database and drug distribution system.

If a federal plan passes, this long-running dispute may be moot because new financing formulas could make the charity system obsolete.

“Health care reform will be more of a burden to Louisiana than any other state I can think of, and that’s primarily because of the charity hospital system,” said David Hood, a former state health secretary and now an analyst at the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.

With few fully insured patients, Louisiana’s charity hospitals are heavily reliant on “disproportionate share hospital” payments, which are allocated to hospitals that treat a large indigent population. Nearly 20 percent of Louisiana’s Medicaid spending is in the form of these payments, more than three times the national average.

The proposals being debated in Congress would significantly cut these payments over the next decade in favor of a broad expansion of Medicaid coverage: under the Senate proposal, state health officials say, nearly half of Louisiana’s population would be eligible for Medicaid and would no longer have to rely on the charity system. Officials from L.S.U. say that at least some of their hospitals could weather the transition and even be competitive with private hospitals, but everyone acknowledges that it would be difficult.

“It’s going to be Darwinism at its most abrupt,” said Representative Bill Cassidy, a Republican and one of three doctors in Louisiana’s Congressional delegation.

While acknowledging the possibility of a bumpy transition, many health care experts say that Louisiana has long needed this reform anyway.

“A model in which people are dependent on going to a facility for all their care as opposed to having insurance coverage so that they can use the broadest array of the health care system is at best antiquated,” said Diane Rowland, executive director of the Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. “Louisiana probably stands to gain more from health reform than lose.”

In few places is the health care crisis more immediate than in the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding.

Charity Hospital in New Orleans — the flagship of the state system — closed after the flood, and an endless dispute over the extent of its damage has left clinics and hospitals crowded. A majority of the city’s residents face chronic health problems like diabetes and heart disease, yet a quarter of them are uninsured.

These are reasons cited by Mr. Cao in explaining his vote for the House bill, a vote that drew anger from fellow Republicans. (It is also worth noting that Mr. Cao’s district is heavily Democratic.)

“The rising cost of health care is an obstacle to the financial security of my constituents, and they must have access to quality and affordable health care,” Mr. Cao, who is known as Joseph, said in an e-mail message.

In an unfortunate twist, one of Louisiana’s most urgent health care difficulties — and a big part of the political drama in the Senate — comes as a direct result of the federal assistance for its recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

The spending formula that determines how much each state is given in matching federal Medicaid funds is based on per capita income over a certain period. Louisiana’s per capita income took an enormous leap in the years after the storm — 42 percent, according to state officials — in part because many poor people left the state, but primarily because of the billions of dollars in recovery funds flowing into Louisiana.

Nevertheless, because of this formula, the federal share of Louisiana’s Medicaid costs is expected to drop around 10 percentage points by 2011, which state officials say could add up to $500 million a year.

“It’s something that will make you stop breathing just to think about it,” Mr. Levine said.

In late November, on the eve of her key vote allowing the Senate health care proposal to proceed, Ms. Landrieu won a provision that would bring $300 million into the state to help with this Medicaid shortfall.

Many state Republicans, including Mr. Jindal, have stayed conspicuously quiet on the matter, even as national conservative figures criticized Ms. Landrieu. The broadcasters Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh called her a prostitute, prompting the state Democratic Party, perhaps loath to miss a chance to use the word prostitute in the same sentence with Senator David Vitter, to demand that Mr. Vitter repudiate the broadcasters’ comments.

While people on both sides of the debate expect some upheaval in Louisiana if a health care bill is passed, Sheila Webb, a former city health director for New Orleans, pointed out that Louisiana is more experienced than most states in facing sudden and severe disruption. And good can often come of it.

Ms. Webb said she pushed for years for the creation of clinics and community health centers in New Orleans. There are now 93 such sites in the region, serving nearly 80,000 uninsured people a year — a network that came about when New Orleans found itself without its largest hospital.

“Sometimes you don’t change,” Ms. Webb said, “unless you’re forced to.”

Gov. Bobby Jindal dissatisfied with plan for distributing government workers' raises

By The Associated Press

December 09, 2009, 9:36PM

Gov. Bobby Jindal will reject the Civil Service Commission's plan to revamp the way pay raises are doled out to thousands of state government workers because it doesn't give agency chiefs enough flexibility, the governor's office said Wednesday.

Arely D. Castillo, The News-Star/The Associated Press archive

Gov. Bobby Jindal says state agency leaders need more flexibility in granting pay raises.

The proposal approved by the commission would replace the near-automatic 4 percent annual pay raises given to state employees with a sliding scale of salary increases tied to performance.

Stephen Waguespack, deputy chief of staff for Jindal, said the proposal doesn't go far enough to allow managers to determine how much of a raise employees deserve.

"This seems to be a modest step in the right direction, but we will be sending the plan back to the Civil Service Commission because we would still like to see more flexibility, as originally requested by the Legislature and proposed by civil service staff," Waguespack said in a statement released by Jindal's office.

About 61,000 workers, deemed "classified" under the Department of Civil Service, would be affected by any changes.

The commission adopted a proposal Wednesday that would give 3 percent, 4 percent or 6 percent raises to employees, based on their annual performance reviews. The commission approved the proposal only after removing language that would have given agency chiefs more discretion in deciding how much of a pay raise their employees receive.

Jindal wants that language put back into the proposal, his spokesman Kyle Plotkin said.

The governor can't force the Civil Service Commission to make the changes, however. The seven-member commission has constitutional protections and, if its members refuse Jindal's request, they could force a stalemate unless lawmakers and voters change the constitution.

James Smith, chairman of the commission, called the proposal approved Wednesday fair, and it was approved without objection. Burl Cain, the only member of the commission elected by state employees, abstained from voting.

The changes would take effect July 1, 2010. More than 30,000 political appointees deemed "unclassified" would not be directly affected, though state agencies often apply the same policies to both classes of workers.

State workers who attended public hearings or put comments in writing complained changes to the performance rating system would allow managers to play favorites. They said the system was too subjective. Employees said review policies varied widely, with some managers lenient, giving nearly all workers good reviews, while others judged employees too harshly.

Currently, any employee deemed to "meet expectations" or perform above those expectations gets a flat 4 percent pay increase, unless the department head has received an exception from the commission.

Under the proposal approved by the commission, workers who "meet expectations" in annual reviews would get pay raises of 3 percent, those who "exceed expectations" would get 4 percent and employees deemed "outstanding" would get 6 percent. Workers could appeal the decisions.

Previously proposed language that would have let agency chiefs give raises "up to" 3 percent, 4 percent and 6 percent was removed before the proposal was passed. Instead, if agency heads don't want to give raises or want exceptions, they would have to get approval from the Civil Service Commission.

The removal of the "up to" language was suggested by Civil Service Director Shannon Templet, who said it could help eliminate some of the employee concerns about favoritism and subjectivity of managers.

___

Melinda Deslatte of The Associated Press wrote this report.