In the Legislature, Bret has fought for what matters:
- Education: adequately funding elementary and secondary education as well asprotecting higher education institutions such as Nicholls, Fletcher, and Young Memorial.
- Protecting TOPS: our younger generations rely on this program to better positionthemselves for today’s modern workforce, especially as tuition costs have risen.
- Flood Protection: led the effort to fund critical projects such as the Bayou Chene FloodControl Structure which will protect a large amount of District 21 and the surroundingareas from the dangers of seasonal flooding of the Atchafalaya River and storm surgefrom future hurricanes.
- Responsible Budgets: fought for the lowering of sales taxes after the state budgetrebounded from the collapse of oil prices. Tough decisions had to be made and thetemporary sales tax was only kept in place until critical services such as TOPS, highereducation, and health care could be funded adequately when revenues improved.
- Health Care: directed funding to our critical rural hospitals such as Franklin Foundation,worked to increase funds to places like Teche Action Clinic and its wide service area insouth Louisiana, and worked as a member of Senate Finance to establish thepublic/private partnerships that kept places like Chabert Medical Center and UniversityMedical Center open and available to our citizens.
- Champion for Business: fought to protect the oil and gas industry from cripplinglitigation over damage to the wetlands by searching for alternatives that respect therights of landowners and the state–while also recognizing the important role that the oiland gas industry has played in the history of our state and the jobs and support it hasprovided our families.