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Gov. Jeff Landry has vetoed a controversial measure targeting control of Louisiana’s advocacy organization for entrepreneurs, known as Nexus Louisiana.
The surprise legislation authored by Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, got its start as a sickle cell anemia bill, and would have substantively changed the makeup of the Research Park board of directors, which oversees Nexus Louisiana.
Sen. Franklin Foil, D-Baton Rouge, tells Daily Report that he believed the bill brought things “backwards” and weakened the board and the organization’s mission.
“I had asked the governor to veto the bill on behalf of several of my constituents,” Foil says. “We thought the changes weakened the mission of the organization. It took business people off the board.”
It was recrafted in the final days of the session in a meeting of the House Committee on Health and Welfare, without any effort to collaborate with the existing leadership. At that time, references to the Louisiana Sickle Cell Commission were removed in their entirety.
As written, it would have reduced the board of directors from a range of nine to 12 members to seven to nine. It also was designed to give Barrow and Rep. C. Denise Marcelle of Baton Rouge control over two of those appointments for what is intended to be a statewide advocacy organization and resource for entrepreneurs.
It also called for reducing the maximum number of appointees representing the business sector from seven to two.
Barrow could not be reached by Daily Report this morning. In a previous statement to Daily Report, she did not address what prompted her bill or the timing of amendments late in the session to the bill, but said she felt the board “can benefit from a few structural changes, including downsizing.”
The measure comes at a time when Nexus Louisiana has just begun the process of selecting a new CEO, following the departure of longtime executive Genevieve Silverman amid a budget shortfall resulting from market conditions impacting the organization’s investments. Calvin Mills, a management consultant for Nexus Louisiana, has made no secret of his desire to become its top executive.
“We will continue to do that work that has been given for us to do, which is to support entrepreneurs and tech innovation,” says Nexus Louisiana board president Anita Byrne.
According to the Research Park Corporation’s latest audit on file with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office―issued in October 2023―the organization had nearly $18.3 million in total assets, down from just over $23 million in 2021. Its assets in 2022 included $16.5 million in investments. Its November 2023 Form 990 shows the organization brought in $2,578,258 in revenue in 2022, most of it in unspecified contributions and grants.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated since its original publication to clarify the cause of a budget shortfall impacting Nexus Louisiana.
