House Okays Funds to Build LSU Medical School Here

              Shreveport Times, Wednesday, May 18, 1966
In Rare Unanimous Mood
House Okays Funds to Build
LSU Medical School Here
By SAM STRINGFELLOW
Times Legislative Correspondent
BATON ROUGE—In a rare unanimous mood, the
state House of Representatives Tuesday voted 105 to 0
to provide financing for the $30 million Louisiana State
University medical college in Shreveport to insure
plenty of doctors for the $100 million a year federal
medicare money that's expected to begin pouring into
the state.
A large number of Shreveport
people, who had come here as
hosts for their legislators day
entertainment Monday night of
state officials and legislators,
were in the House galleries t
hear the floor action and witness
the vote.
The bill as approved and sen
to the Senate provides for is
suance of up to $10 million in
state bonds within 10 years, t
be matched two-to-one by fed
eral funds, to build the ne\
Shreveport medical college.
It specifically provides that u
to $5 million in bonds may b
issued in the first five years o
the construction program, an
up to another $5 million in th
second five-year period.
The up to $10 million in stat
money would be matched by u
to $20 million federal money t
underwrite a potential $30 mil
lion dollar medical college.
FLOOR DEBATE
In floor debate with Rep. Sa
vador Anzelmo of New Orlean
Rep. J. Bennett Johnston Jr.
Shreveport said, in attemptir
to justify the demand that th
bonds would create against
$10 million state surplus throug
the general fund:
"The requirement in money
very small. The need for moi
doctors is very great."
Rep. Anzelmo made it clea
he was not opposed to the mea
ure but was concerned with i
effects on state finances in vie
of coming New Orleans intere
in remodeling its charity he
pital and in providing dorn
tories for LSU-New Orleans.
Johnston explained that t
bonds would be paid off at t
rate of $360,000 a year over
20-year period at an anticipat
3.75 per cent rate of interest.
This money, he said, woi
come from proceeds of the
mill state ad valorem tax c
proved in 1951 to pay oul
agricultural bond issue which
said is costing the state abo
$240,000 a year now.
The state ad valorem tax, 1^,
said, is now yielding about $2
million a year, with the balance
over and above the needs of the
agricultural bond retirement
fund, going into the state gen-eral
fund.
FIRST PAYMENT
First payment on the new
medical college bonds would not
be due until the 1967-68 fiscal
year, Johnston also noted, so it
does not represent a demand
on the proposed budget which
was filed Tuesday.
Anzelmo asked Johnston if he
were "cognizant of the needs of
LSUNO and do you want to
help us?" Johnston answered
that he would have to have an
analysis of the needs and cir-cumstances
at the time that
comes up.
Rep. Jesse D. McLain of Cov-ington,
St. Tammany Parish,
wanted to know if the Shreve-port
delegation would be back
in a couple of years for money
to make the LSU junior college
in Shreveport a four-year school.
"Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof," was Johnston's
answer. "I don't know what the
future will bring. We'll just have
to wait and see."
Rep. William P. Polk of Alex-andria
asked: "Wouldn't Alexan-dria
be the best location for that
medical college?" He didn't wait
for an answer.
Another Caddo Parish law-maker,
Rep. Algie Brown,
cleared up the matter of fi-nancing
dormitories for LSUNO.
"They would be paid for by
funds which would be retired out
of revenues derived from their
operation, and would create no
demand on the state's income."
he explained.
Then the bandwagon for I he
LSU medical school in Shreve-port
began rolling as representa-tive
after representative came
lo Ihe microphone to endorse
the project and urge unanimous
passage of the bill.
Rep. Joe Cooper of Mansfield,
DeSoto Parish, said action on
the bill "will determine to a
large extent how we develop the
medical men of this state and
the nation."
"I'm very much for the
Shreveport medical college bill,"
said Rep. Edward F. Lebreton
Jr. of New Orleans. "I think it
will bp Rood for the state to
have such an institution at t!
opposite corner of the state fro
those we now have in New 0
leans."
Speaking for Gov. John J. M
Keithen and his administrate
Rep. Lantz Womack of Winn
borq, Franklin Parish, an a
ministration floor leader, urge
Shreveport as the logical loc
tion for the college.
"One of the best operated hold
pitals of the state is Confederate
Memorial Hospital in Shreve-port,"
he said. "It and the
nursing school will tie into the
new medical college. It will be
10 years before we reap its bene-fits.
We will need it much worse
then than we do now and the
need is here already.
"Tulane is a fine school, Dul
most of its students come from
and go back to other states.
Many students are turned away
from LSU medical college for
lack of facilities for them."
Rep. Taylor O'Hearn, Caddo
Parish Republican, said a great
deal of study went into the pro-posed
medical school at Shreve-port.
"We were told that facili-ties
at Confederate Memorial
Medical Center are second to
none and are gratified to find
that legislators all over the state
are supporting this plan."
"The need for the new school
has been ably expressed," said
Rep. Frank Fulco of Shreveport.
"The spirit of this House, the
Senate, the governor and his ad-ministration
reflect the growth,
prosperity and development of
this state. The image of Louisi-ana
is improved considerably.
We appreciate the response the
House has shown to us. The good
that will come of this will be
exceedingly large to all the peo-ple
of Louisiana."
Rep. John Garrett of Haynes-ville,
Claiborne Parish, said
bonding 1.5 per cent of the state
ad valorem tax income for the
medical school "is sound. I have
been in the legislature 20 years
and one of my chores every year
is to try to get students into
medical school, either LSU or
Tulane. A number are not able
to gain admittance. It is impera-tive
we go ahead and set up
another medical school for Lou-isiana."
Rep. Allen C. Gremillion of
Crowley, Acadia Parish, said he
wanted to "commend all who
helped to create this great image
for Louisiana. I would like to
join them and contribute to that
image in hopes that it will mig-rate
to southwest Louisiana and
help some legislation I have
forthcoming. This is one of the
finest pieces of legislation since
we created our school for the
mentally retarded."
From Rep. Larry Parker of
Pineville, Rapides Parish, came
a plea to make the vote unani-mous.
To clear up his position, Rep.
McLain came back to the micro-phone
in the closing moments of
the floor debate to say that
"nothing has been done for New
Orleans Charity hospital since
1937. Most Shreveport doctors
graduated from LSU or Tulane
and interned at New Orleans
charity. The Shreveport medical
school will help our country hos-pitals
and medical services,
too."
House Speaker Vail Delony
joined in the voting that fol-lowed
to show a unanimous vote
with all members present and
voting for the bill. It goes to
the Senate where Sen. Jackson B.
Davis of Shreveport and area
senators, as co-sponsors of the
measure with the area House
delegation, are hopeful of rapid
action.