The Amite River Basin Commission presented its 2025 annual plan to a joint House and Senate Transportation committee on April 14, and the House approved the plan by voice vote with no objections; the Senate will consider the plan once it has a quorum.

Paul Sawyer, executive director of the Amite River Basin Commission, told the committee the annual plan is required by Act 490 of the 2022 Legislature and summarizes the commission’s projects, funding and operating budget. "Our mission is that we mitigate flood damage, coordinate river management, promote responsible watershed management, and we conserve and restore the unique natural resources of the Amite River Basin," Sawyer said.

Why it matters: the Amite River Basin contains a mix of coastal and upland terrain and includes major population and industrial centers in the capital region. Sawyer said the basin is made up of seven parishes and noted recent catastrophic floods — including a storm in 2016 and an event in 1983 — that highlighted the region’s multiple flood sources, from flash and riverine flooding to coastal and backwater flooding.

Key points from the presentation

- Master plan and legal mandate: Sawyer said the 2025 annual plan follows a legislative reconstitution of the commission in 2022 and that the commission is finalizing its first basin master plan, which the commission will transmit to the Legislature. He said the annual-plan requirement and master-plan directive come from Act 490 of the 2022 Legislature.

- Projects and partnerships: Sawyer described several large projects that the commission monitors or participates in, including the Comite River Diversion Canal and an East Baton Rouge Parish flood-control project led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He said the commission has focused in the past year on analytics and data production to support parish-level planning and nonstructural measures such as flood-zone remapping that could lower insurance premiums.

- Funding and delivery: Sawyer said the commission received $100 million from the Louisiana Watershed Initiative (LWI) and has suballocated or redirected much of that funding to parish governments because the parishes can deliver certain projects more quickly. He said the commission currently receives no annual state appropriation and that a prior regional millage that once provided revenue has expired; the commission has not asked voters for a new tax.

- Geography and risk: Sawyer said the basin includes Ascension, Livingston, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, St. Helena and St. James parishes (the presentation identified seven parishes but listed those six by name) and that the basin connects to Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain.

Committee action and next steps

Representative Wiley moved on behalf of the House to approve the Amite River Basin annual plan. Committee leaders asked for objections; none were recorded and the motion "stood approved" for the House. Committee leaders said the Senate did not have a quorum at the time, and Chairman Connolly said the plan will be added to the Senate agenda at the committee’s meeting on Wednesday so the Senate can act.

Votes at a glance

- Amite River Basin Commission 2025 Annual Plan — Moved by Representative Wiley; House approval by voice vote, no objections recorded; Senate action pending (to be added to Wednesday’s agenda).

- Adoption of minutes from prior joint House and Senate Transportation meetings dated Oct. 24, 2023, and Jan. 30, 2024 — Representative Jackson requested his name be recorded in the minutes; minutes were adopted by voice vote with no objections recorded.

Who spoke

Paul Sawyer, executive director, Amite River Basin Commission — presented the annual plan and described projects, funding and the master plan. Representative Wiley — moved House approval of the annual plan. Representative Wadley — praised Sawyer’s leadership and the commission’s approach to directing funds to parishes. Representative Jackson — asked that his name be recorded in the minutes. Chairman (unnamed) — presided over the joint meeting and confirmed that the Senate lacked a quorum.

Background and context

Sawyer described the commission as Region 9 of the Louisiana Watershed Initiative and said the commission pursues both structural and nonstructural flood-risk measures and provides data to parishes to support their flood plans. He told committee members that the commission has a long legislative history dating to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and that the 2022 legislative changes reconstituted the commission’s board to include parish presidents from the basin.

The committee did not take final state-level action on the annual plan at the joint meeting because the Senate lacked a quorum; committee leaders said the Senate will consider the plan at a subsequent meeting.