According to a new report from the legislative auditor's office, Louisiana has 492 state-created boards, commissions or other entities, an increase of 45 percent over the past 20 years.
Of the 433 state-created boards, commissions or other entities that responded to requests for information from the legislative auditor's office, 277 pay per diem, salaries and travel for board members at an annual cost of roughly $6.5 million.
Those are some of the findings of a recent report from the auditor's office that lists 492 state-created commissions, up 45 percent over the past 20 years, according to The Advocate. In 1992, there were 338 of such groups, a number that has drastically increased despite attempts by the Legislature to weed out unnecessary boards.
The auditor's report tried to detail the total spending of the nearly 500 entities, but 44 of those did not respond to requests for information as required by state law:
Among the groups [not responding] are the Interstate 10/12 Corridor Commission, the Interstate 49 North Extension Feasibility and Funding Task Force, the Interstate 49 South Feasibility and Funding Task Force, the Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission, the Medicaid Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee, the Naval War Memorial Commissioners, the Poverty Point Reservoir District Board of Commissioners and municipal employee, municipal police, registrar of voters' employee and sheriffs' pension fund boards.
At least five of the groups created during 2010 or earlier have never been fully organized or are not functioning and should be considered by the Legislature and/or Governor's Office for elimination, the report from Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera's office found.
The five are Drug Free Schools and Communities, an arm of a governor's advisory council; the Concordia Parish Port Commission; the Vidalia Port Commission; the Post Employment Benefits Trust Fund; and the North Bossier Levee and Drainage District Board of Commissioners.
Read the full story here.