The noon sun was dazzling, reflecting off hundreds of yellow shirts. But not all those attending the disabilities rally could ascend the capitol steps. Jamie Duplechine of Lafayette, for example, was one of dozens in wheelchairs.
“Last year made 25 years that the ADA has been around, and it should have definitely made this accessible,” Duplechine said, as she craned her neck to look up the steps at the speaker’s lectern.
Duplechine and the rest weren’t there to talk about accessibility, however. They were there to fight for waivers.
“Without the waivers that we’re fighting for now, I would probably be in a nursing home, because my parents are too old to take care of me anymore,” the 38-year old Duplechine said.
Bambi Polotzola, the governor’s advisor on disabilities issues, addressed the crowd.
“Almost 14-thousand people still wait on the waiting list for home and community-based services. The people at the top of the list have been waiting for almost 12 years,” Polotzola reminded them. “This is not acceptable. Say it with me; this is not acceptable!”
Governor John Bel Edwards urged them to keep fighting.
“Louisiana, quite simply, isn’t doing all that it can and should for people with disabilities these days,” the governor admitted. “But that’s why you have to be here -- because you’re not an option; you are a priority!” he told them, prompting cheers.
Meawhile, in a sub-basement committee room, Higher Education Commissioner Joseph Rallo was explaining what college and university budgets are facing.
“So we’ve been told to plan for an eight to ten percent reduction on $750-million dollars, as well as a reduction in TOPS, which is approximately an 80% cut,” Rallo told the House Appropriations subcommittee.
Representative John Schroder was unfazed by the size of the proposed funding reduction.
“My concern is, where are the new ideas?” Schroder demanded of the higher education leaders seated at the testimony table. “Where’s the vision? What are we doing to recreate ourselves?”
Back outside, across the lawn from the Capitol, oil and gas industry representatives were having lunch under a massive canopy. The governor also addressed them.
“While I did call for shared sacrifice,” Edwards said, referring to the revenue-raising measures of the previous special legislative session, “I know that now is not the time to try and extract more revenue from the oil and gas industry.”
Therefore the question remains: who will pay, and for what?