House To Consider Better Control Of Transportation Trust Fund

A bill that would keep road and bridge funds from being spent on other agencies across the state will now go to the full house for consideration. The Transportation Trust Fund was put in place to insure that money would be available for needed road and bridge repairs across the state. Over time, that fund has been used to support other agencies, including state police. Now, one Lafayette law maker, Terry Landry, a former state police commander, says that practice has got to stop.

"I'm coining it as putting the trust back into the Transportation Trust Fund. Because throughout this state the common theme is that legislators have raided the fund for other needs."

Under Landry's bill the flow of funds to state police would begin to decrease over the next few years. This year state police would receive $40 million dollars out of the fund, next year $25 million and in year three that amount would be $10 million. Landry says his bill is not designed to pull funding from law enforcement. It is designed to put the money back toward its original intended use. He told the Louisiana Radio Network that robbing Peter to pay Paul was not a good practice,

 "Because Paul is going to be left without, and in this instance it's our highway trust fund. We're 12 billion dollars behind,"