Domestic violence survivors left stranded in Landry’s budget proposal

Victims and their families are clearly a top priority of Gov. Jeff Landry in the raft of new legislation that cleared a special session on crime. Many traveled to the Capitol to convince lawmakers to approve the proposals, and some were by the governor’s side when he signed them into law.

But there is a group of victims missing from the governor’s agenda.

Landry has not put nearly as much of his weight behind the community of domestic violence survivors and the dedicated people who serve them. His proposed budget doesn’t include money to build additional shelters for victims and their children who need to escape their abusers. 

In 2022, Louisiana ranked fifth in the U.S. for domestic violence homicides with 56,  including five children killed by their parent’s intimate partner. The state exceeded such 60 deaths in each of the three previous years, according to data from Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.     

A one-time allotment of $7 million was provided last year to build new shelters, and advocates say legislators led them to believe funding would be consistently provided to meet the vast need for refuge facilities and the critical accompanying services. As of 2021, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor counted 389 domestic violence shelter beds and an annual average of 2,700 unmet requests for accommodations.

Without the same level of resources from the state this year, plans to build five new sites will have to be scaled back, and expansions at six of the state’s 17 domestic violence shelters will be shelved.

“A one-time influx of dollars is not sufficient,” said Mariah Stidham Wineski, executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

State lawmakers have been put on notice, including Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, who leads the Legislature’s budget-writing process.

“That $7 million was not for recurring dollars for [shelter] administration, though I agree we need to look at that,”  McFarland said this week during a budget committee hearing.

Rep. Aimee Adato Freeman, D-New Orleans, took part in that hearing and pointed out the mixed messages from the governor on crime victims.

“If we’re really committed as a legislative and executive branch together to addressing crime … domestic violence sits right in there,” Freeman said. “I would hope that my colleagues would help me find that $7 million… When we don’t fund that, we end up with more criminal justice problems, more mental health issues.”

Adding pressure on lawmakers to find money in the state budget for domestic violence is the governor’s edict for state agencies to find ways to cut back their expenses. He and the Legislature are looking ahead to midyear 2025 when a 0.45% portion of the state sales tax will expire, pulling away $600 million in revenue. Landry and Republicans legislators aren’t keen on renewing the tax.

An once-ample state surplus, fueled with federal disaster and pandemic aid, has also been whittled away, leaving fewer dollars for areas of need. At last count, Louisiana had $91.5 million in extra cash to spread around.

Still, Landry has approved $3 million to send Louisiana National Guard troops to the Texas border with Mexico. He also wants $31 million put into state prisons and more than $13 million to equip and pay state police better.

The governor has repeatedly put forth effective arguments to validate his criminal justice concerns. His supporters in the Capitol have echoed those sentiments to much fanfare from victims and families whose pleas for help have gone unheard.  

This makes Landry’s silence and inaction with regards to domestic violence survivors all the more noticeable.