Workforce development is a key priority for the 2026 Louisiana legislative session

0:00What's up little psychos, I'm Investigator Slater, host of the Psychopedia podcast. Psychopedia is a true crime podcast delivering raw, real, and absolutely gripping episodes every single week. I dig deep to uncover fascinating details of heinous true crime cases while exploring criminology and psychology theories. I take you into the absolute darkest corners of the human psyche, my favorite territory, and present cases like you've never heard them before. Follow and listen to Psychopedia everywhere you get your podcasts. Welcome back folks. We've decided that we want to reach out to a number of elected, individual serving in the state legislature to talk about what some of their priorities are, bills that they've introduced, and what they're about, and what they hope to accomplish. So we're going to be doing this throughout the remainder of the legislative session, and we're starting out with a good friend, Kim Carver, state representative, Republican district 89, represents Mandivell and much of Western St. Tammany Parish, and he joins

1:04us now. Kim, welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Noah. It's great to be with you. I appreciate this opportunity to join you. So let's jump right in. I know we have previously talked about this. You are a big believer in workforce development and the creation of career pathways. So talk to us about some of your pending legislation and others on this topic. Yeah, certainly. I just came out of a commerce meeting, House Commerce Committee met this morning, and there was a bill there brought by one of my colleagues from the Capitol Region Representative Dixon MacMacon on behalf of LED, the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, and the secretary, Susan Bourgeois, was there at the table and was basically telling the Commerce Committee, we have provided you some information on the latest Capitol investment announcements that we've made, the number of jobs that that's creating in the last two years, and it's already

2:08out of date because I think they had announced a new $1 billion investment project yesterday afternoon. That is the pace of economic development that's happening in our state in the last two years. It's incredible, no more to think that we're standing at close to $100 billion in new private investment. That also presents a significant challenge for our state, and that is we have to fill close to 100,000 jobs that are going to be a result of this investment that we've long foreign our state for a long time. I've had a lot of conversations, I know you've had a lot of guests on too to talk about the fact that for a long time Louisiana has just not been competing with some of our neighboring states for lots of various reasons, and we've seen some population loss as a result of it, and now we're beginning to see kind of an influx of new population and people who are choosing Louisiana because the climate is getting better. If we can't compete in providing a workforce, then none of this really matters for the people

3:14here in Louisiana. We want them to have the opportunity and prosperity, and that means several things. That means we have to have some workforce development training and programs ready for them. We have to do some upskilling of existing Louisiana residents to be prepared for these jobs. Then it means we're also going to probably have to attract or re-home, if you will, some of our best and brightest who left us, right, to go to find opportunity in other places to come back. I say all that to say, the legislature has a number of workforce development priorities, summer short term, summer medium term, and summer long term, because we are now the proverbial dog that has caught the car, right, like we wanted jobs, we wanted opportunity. Be careful with jazz for you may get it, right? You may get it, and now we have to have people to fill these jobs, or you quickly share if you get regulated back to the kitty table, if you will, you're not going to be in the conversation for these kind of opportunities that we really want.

4:18With that being said, there are a number of initiatives to provide a pipeline for Louisiana workers to fill those jobs. I have one in particular a bill that I'm really excited about, and it's more in that long-term category, because what it does is introduces to children in elementary school and in middle school age range career pathway opportunities in high demand, high wage jobs, as defined by the Louisiana Workforce Commission. That's the old name for that agency we now call it Louisiana Works. We kind of re-tooled them last year and gave them a new name, but when they've identified jobs that are happening and are available and they're high demand, high wage, and every region of our state. We want to get to kids and to families early so that they don't necessarily go down a path where they squander hard earned tuition dollars or take out a number of loans and get

5:22sacked with the student debt, and then they end up with a degree that's not necessarily marketable in a high wage job field. We want that exposure to begin early on into these pathways for the jobs that we're going to have right here in Louisiana. No offense to people who may want a specific education degree, perhaps, but we want to make sure that kids at least are getting the exposure to the jobs that we know we need to feel here in Louisiana. If you don't mind me saying too, Noel, the secretary said at the table this morning that the jobs that have been announced already, the average wage for them is $91,000 of the new jobs with this capital investment, 50 percent higher than what we've had here in Louisiana before. So we want to make sure we're funneling Louisiana on to pathways that get them into those jobs. You know, you said something the last time that we spoke about this, that we have this

6:26one in a lifetime opportunity right now, right, and we can't afford to get it wrong. We've got to get it right. That's right. That's right. And, you know, we can't, I have said it often, we can't miss this moment. You know this from your past career as a sheriff, and I think you know it pretty well in your current career too. We have to walk and chew gum at the same time. You do that, you know, very well. Here at the legislature, we had a number of challenges that we had to, you know, to tackle insurance, you know, premiums had skyrocketed. That was for homeowners, for business owners, and for auto, you know, for property and for auto. And the last two years, you know, we ran a package of about 50 bills. Probably have some more work to do on that. And we will in this session, but we've been seeing those trends really begin to improve. And that's been affordable. We had a lot of education challenges, and I don't know if you're familiar with it, but

7:28our national report card rankings for Louisiana, for the first time ever, it's the highest in our state's history as us out of the 40s and at number 32. Now, 32 is not a place to stop and celebrate and throw a party, but it's pretty, Dad gone good when you've been 48 and 49 and 50 for generations, you know, and so we really have been working on these things to put us in this position. And now this is the next challenge that we cannot miss, as you said. We can't miss this moment because you don't get a redo on these things. Yeah, you know, and the interesting thing too is that a number of these jobs don't require like a college education and in most recent history, we've almost been apologetic to talk about it in that context and we really shouldn't be, right? I mean, you're exactly right. My wife and I have had these conversations too. I came home the other evening from touring a defense contractor that's located in St.

8:34Tamini Parish, their name is Textron. They do a lot of work for the United States military and I left their site so impressed by what we are doing for our country and for the world right here in our community. But also, I came home and I told my wife, I said the program manager at Textron said, I would hire a hundred welders today if they walked in and pay them six figures with full benefits. Wow. That's not a college degree, you know, to your point. And so it's like, you know, no offense to somebody who wants to study poetry for four years at a college, but I think we have one poet laureate in Louisiana, so that job is filled, but we've got a lot of jobs to fill that you don't need a four year degree. And a lot of these jobs too, you know, they can begin, kids can begin to earn certificates

9:34and certifications and credentials while they're still in high school towards that through partnering with our technical and community college partners like Delgado and like North Shore Tech and like Nunez and can come out of high school halfway to a certification that gets them that high paying job without a four year degree and all that student debt. What I like about your bill, and I know that you termed it as long term, but we have this pipeline, right? And we got to make sure it's alive and we got to make sure that it's healthy because a lot of these jobs that are being created by these announcements right now, they really come into fruition over the next three to four to five years, right, in phases. That's correct. Yes, that's right. And it's also, you know, like it's not like a crop, right, where you plant the crop, you know, in the summer and then you harvest it in the fall and then it's over.

10:34You know, these are jobs, this is kind of a pipeline, I think is the right word that you just used. It's going to be three or four years of construction and then they'll move into operation, but they're going to continue to expand and then as you know, they generate ancillary support businesses who support their work and their production and their operations. This is going to be talent needs that we're going to have and workforce challenges that we're going to have in Louisiana for a couple of decades. And so, you know, that's why we have to really get ahead of it. And we see that already, right, with the LNG plant and plackamans, they did the first phase. They were thinking about doing something in another part of the state in another region in a recognized, it might be easier for us to do phase two right here next door to phase one. Yeah, let's do them right beside each other. I think that, yeah, maybe the two largest construction projects on the planet earth as I've heard it described. Hey guys, this is Matt Norlander, co-host of the Ion College Basketball Podcast with Gary

11:37Parrish. We are part of the CBS Sports Podcast Network in college hoops is turning toward what's going to be a phenomenal March. So be sure you are tuned into the show. We're going to be publishing at least four shows every week. Follow and listen to Ion College Basketball free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. March is coming. Yeah, yeah, which is incredible. Let's move on to something that, yeah, it's right there in front of us. Let's move on to something else that you are, you feel very, very strongly about and I love what you're doing in this field. Child safety and online exploitation. Talk to us about that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the attorney general, Liz Morrow has really been in my opinion, a champion in this space. I have seen her kind of lead the nation and, you know, being, I think, the very first

12:38state attorney general to file suit against Roblox as being, you know, a place that was very dangerous for children, where, you know, predators, pedophiles, people who mean to do, you know, harm, great evil, we're lurking to connect with kids and we had a number of cases in the New Orleans area, really, and across our footprint, one that I'm particularly familiar with, that happened up on the North Shore in the 22nd judicial district where a charge was brought against a man from Vermont or New Hampshire, one of the New England states who had had met a young person in Washington Parish on a gaming platform. They had quickly moved that relationship over to Snapchat and, you know, unfortunately, you know, some abuse took place and he was successfully prosecuted and brought to justice here. Our district attorneys across the footprint, our law enforcement, our sheriff, the special victims units that have been created and really the attorney general have worked really

13:43well together to make this a priority and it's unfortunate that we have this need in our community, but the world has really made a turn in this direction and she asked me to bring this bill, which really helps for law enforcement partners to clean up and to simplify and clarify that process with which they shared this information with the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children. And because what they were having to do was duplicate what I would say is basically the contraband, right, the material they would have to duplicate it and share it, you know, with different partners and it's like you had to do this first and then do that and go, and so let's take out some of these middle steps, make this cleaner, make this easier. Let's not generate excessive quantities of this horrific material that may not necessarily be needed if we can do a little bit in the statute to make this easier. So the attorney general and I have worked really well together on some big tech bills to protect kids in the online space and the digital space and she said, I think this

14:48is a natural for you. We need this, our law enforcement partners need this and I said I'm happy to carry it and so that bill is filed and it's going to get a hearing pretty quickly. Good deal. Lastly, you're concerned for youth leaving foster care. You and I have talked about this and you know, we've seen some of the horrific outcomes in the missteps over a period of time. So tell us about your thoughts. Yeah, and look, I really appreciate you and your leadership on this too. You and I have talked about this for a decade and this is just a personal passion of mine. My family was built, got built my family through the beautiful work of adoption and through foster care and it's been a passion project for a long time and if you're not familiar with the system, sometimes you don't realize that we have this challenge and some of these outcomes. But kids who find themselves in foster care are basically awards or custody of the state

15:58and if they age out, which means they reach the age of 18 having never been adopted, then their outcomes are pretty significantly difficult. They a lot of times move into a pipeline where they are trafficked. Their education outcomes are very low, their employment outcomes are very low and they have a hard time making it in life because they're not tethered or connected to the support systems that so many of us know and enjoy through family and one of their greatest challenges is transportation. And if you can imagine you're an 18-year-old and you're in foster care and you're moving from temporary placement to temporary placement, then you turn 18 and all of a sudden you're freed from foster care and you're on your own. And how do you get to a job interview if you don't have transportation? How do you go try to find a house or an apartment somewhere? And so one of the great challenges is transportation.

17:00Well the state has a lot of fleet vehicles with all these different agencies and we typically move them into an auctioning off when they have achieved a certain mileage or so many years or they're moved out of state use and we sell them at auction and so I have a bill to give preferred buying status to kids who age out of foster care for those fleet vehicles that the state's getting rid of before we take them to auction. So at a very preferred price, at a reduced price, it's going to make some transportation options available for kids that age out of foster care. You know this may sound crazy to some people, right? But it really isn't and I don't know how to say it other than to just say it, right? There are families that serve as foster parents that are truly God's gift to our community and then there are others that are just doing it for the sake of the dollar, right?

18:00And it's more of a business opportunity I guess. And in those cases, they're not really establishing a foundation for these young kids that are coming out of foster care and they don't really provide any further sustenance. I mean there are some foster families that are truly God's gift to our community that will stay with their foster children in their life for the rest of their life. But the rest, that's few and far between, right? I mean if I'm speaking honestly just from what I know and you're correct. I think that's the correct, no, I think that's the correct balance. You know and it's just, it's a tough topic. This doesn't sound like a lot and it sounds a little, you know, maybe a little whacked out to some folks but I cannot overemphasize the importance of this. And I think spot on and kudos to you for doing this because it could be all the difference in the

19:00world, you know, to getting folks from a point to another point in their life. Yeah, to a place of independence and the dignity that comes with that of being able to take care of yourself and make it in this world, right? That's all of us want that ability to be successful. And some of us are blessed with more support systems and resources and I will tell you and you know this, you know, that group is not thought of often and not on purpose, it just doesn't come to mind. Yeah, for a lot of people. But I am here to tell you and it's a great source of pride. We have a handful of members in the state senate and a handful of members in the Louisiana House who have an adoption story, right? Whether they were adopted or they adopted or they were foster care parents or a family member has been and there are some folks in this building that really care about it and there's not a lobby, right? There aren't lobbyists or government relations firms that

20:02often come to the table for a group that are largely marginalized or forgotten. And I'm here to tell you there are people in this building and I'm one of them and I know your heart and I know you are too and you've used your platform well to serve the less fortunate and that's important because with leadership comes responsibility and we're going to do what's right by these kids at least as long as I'm here. Absolutely, a wonderful endeavor for sure. Best of luck if there's any way that I can help and anyway, please reach out and Kim, I know you're busy. Thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate you outlining some of the priorities that you have and we really appreciate the time and the insight and good luck for the rest of the session. I know it's a busy, busy time because most everybody else has another job that they have to work. Yeah, my self-included by the way, my self-included, but thank you and let's stay in touch. There are good things happening and I want people to know that. This is a time to be optimistic about where we live. Absolutely. Kim Carver State Representative Republican district 89 represents

21:09Mandavilla much of Western St. Tammany parish. Have a great week. We will be right back 504-2601870 on the Oakland Heart Jules talking text line. We're going to go to the talk lines. This is your opportunity. Got a lot of text. You got something to get off your chest. We want to hear it. Something I said you don't like. Something I said you do like. It doesn't matter to me. Let's talk about it. Let's beat it around and let's have a nice conversation when we return. Stay with us. Football is fun. Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same? Follow and listen to Heed the Call NFL podcast with Dan Hanzis and Mark Cessler wherever you get your podcast.