BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Gov. Bobby Jindal scrapped a bid by lawmakers to oversee -- and possibly meddle with -- the governor's plans to hire outside contractors to run some state mental health facilities.
Jindal vetoed the bill Friday, saying it would damage cost-cutting plans in a difficult budget cycle and dissuade companies seeking to contract with the state. He also said current law already provides oversight of the contracting process.
"Adding additional steps to the procurement process outside of those protections will hinder the state's ability to deal with the challenges we face, will discourage potential partners from participating, may create legal impediments to implementation and could result in increased expenditures," the governor wrote in his veto letter.
The measure by Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, would have given lawmakers the ability to reject privatization contracts involving Louisiana's inpatient psychiatric treatment facilities. That includes beds at mental hospitals the Jindal administration wants to privatize this year.
The contracts would have required review and approval from the House and Senate health care committees and the Legislature's joint budget committee before they could be awarded.
The bill also would have required DHH to consider a list of several factors when choosing a contractor and to get approval from lawmakers before the department could issue a request for bids for the privatization contracts.
Supporters of the Edwards bill said lawmakers should have a say in the awarding of contracts that will cost millions of dollars, revamp health services and possibly limit care to people who currently receive it.
Edwards said he was disappointed by the veto, but not surprised because the Jindal administration had fought the proposal on its passage through the Legislature.
"The administration never had any intention of allowing the bill to become law or to allow the Legislature to have meaningful oversight or approval authority over these contracts," Edwards said.
Some of the privatization agreements still will face review from the joint budget committee under current law, Edwards said, but he didn't consider that review meaningful.
Jindal said most of DHH's mental health services already are provided through private contracts, which he said cost the state less money while providing quality care.
Edwards filed the bill after Jindal announced plans to privatize 82 of the beds at a mental hospital in his area, the Jackson campus of the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System, and to lay off more than 100 workers there. The governor also wants to privatize some services at the Central Louisiana State Hospital in Pineville and other health facilities around the state.
Edwards said he would pay close heed to any privatization contracts Jindal seeks, adding he won't "hesitate to sound the alarm if I have concerns that they are not in the best interest of the state or the very vulnerable population that these facilities serve."
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Online: House Bill 1443 can be found at www.legis.state.la.us
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