William Tauzin: “let me first tell you that as far as this unfunded mandate argument goes, we have discussed personally this issue with…”

“let me first tell you that as far as this unfunded mandate argument goes, we have discussed personally this issue with our governor, the head of our natural resources in Louisiana. They tell us it is certainly right and fitting that Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama should have the same jurisdictional enforcement capacities that Texas and Florida have, and they would be very willing to accept that responsibility if the State was accorded that responsibility in this bill. They are prepared for it. Of course, our fisheries and wildlife department would love to have more money. That is the reason he mentioned that in his letter. But the truth of the matter is that they want parity of jurisdiction, just as much as the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) and I, who represent Louisiana, would love our State to have parity of jurisdiction. I appreciate the gentleman from Maryland about the fiscal state of affairs in Louisiana. I assure you, our State officials are one with us in this request.”