The Louisiana State Capitol building on Saturday, June 10, 2023 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The Louisiana State Capitol building on Saturday, June 10, 2023 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Two advocacy groups that have spent decades influencing policy at the Louisiana State Capitol have announced they are now merging into one organization.
Council for A Better Louisiana and The Committee of 100 for Economic Development formally combined on Jan. 1 to form the nonpartisan Leaders for a Better Louisiana.
“Leaders for a Better Louisiana combines the influential business leadership of C100 with CABL’s long-standing commitment to education initiatives, leadership training, and policy advocacy,” said a news release announcing the merger.
Economic development and education will continue to be priorities for the organization, which is aimed at “championing economic growth and increased opportunities for the betterment of all citizens,” the announcement says.
Committee of 100, a business roundtable of top business and university leaders from across the state, will remain intact under the Leaders for a Better Louisiana umbrella.
CABL’s long-running Leadership Louisiana training program, which is designed to foster civic education and engagement, will also live on.
The merger allows the new organization to build on the work the two groups were already doing independently, said Barry Erwin, who was CABL’s president since 2001. He is now chief policy officer at Better Louisiana.
“We can expand our efforts, strengthen our advocacy, and help shape a future for Louisiana defined by opportunity, innovation and excellence,” he said in a statement.
Adam Knapp, who in 2023 became CEO of Committee of 100, will also be CEO of the new group.
“People want to see change and new approaches to solve our state’s challenges,” said Knapp.
Co-chairing the board are Heather Poole, executive vice chancellor at Central Louisiana Technical Community College, and Dr. Phillip Rozeman.
The two groups have been around for decades — CABL since 1962 and Committee of 100 since 1992 — each taking a distinct approach to its policy advocacy work.
Their collaboration, though, has precedent.
Members of CABL had a hand in forming Committee of 100 in the 1990s, and the two organizations later partnered to work on tax policy issues.
In 2015, Committee of 100 commissioned the Tax Foundation, a fiscally conservative nonpartisan policy think tank, to produce a report on how Louisiana could restructure its tax code. The two groups then toured the state together, talking to business and local leaders about the tax policy ideas in that report.
Beginning in 2019, they teamed up with the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, another nonpartisan policy research organization, to form a coalition called RESET, whose aim is to draw attention to pressing, substantive public policy debates.
As RESET, the trio has pushed for reforms in education, workforce development, infrastructure, crime, taxes and spending. It designed a wide-ranging framework of policy recommendations ahead of Louisiana’s 2023 elections as term limits brought a conclusion to the administration of former Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Last year, RESET was a vocal supporter of efforts to overhaul state tax policy ahead of a November special session called by Gov. Jeff Landry.
At its outset in the early 1960s, CABL’s focus centered on Louisiana’s economic and fiscal policy and government ethics.
More recently, CABL has worked on education policy changes at the levels of early childhood, K-12, and higher education.
It helped establish the state’s community and technical college system in the 1990s, for example, and it’s had a seat at the table of various education-related state task forces.
It also pushed for major updates to the Louisiana School Accountability System approved by BESE last summer.
Committee of 100 is dedicated to promoting economic growth in Louisiana.
When the business group formed in the early 1990s, it set out to impact government, education and the economy. Over the decades, when Louisiana found itself facing fiscal crises or challenges, the group worked with state leaders on solutions.
After former CEO Mike Olivier took the helm in 2009, Committee of 100 spent more time on economic development, even supporting the state economic development agency’s trade missions.
The recommendations from the 2015 Tax Foundation report sponsored by the organization ultimately influenced some of the major tax policy changes enacted after the November 2024 special session.
Last year, Committee of 100 of hired consultants to study economic development in five states, an effort that informed a recent restructuring of Louisiana Economic Development. It also hired a firm to advise the economic development agency on a new strategic plan that’s set to be unveiled this year.
Click here to see the board members of Leaders for a Better Louisiana
Editor’s note: This story has been updated since it was first published to reflect the correct title for Dr. Phillip Rozeman.
Email Alyse Pfeil at alyse.pfeil@theadvocate.com.
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