LA state legislators file bills to block move of Baton Rouge Zoo

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State Rep. Barbara Carpenter, a Democrat whose north Baton Rouge district includes the zoo’s current home in Greenwood Park, has filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would prohibit BREC from moving the zoo out of north Baton Rouge.

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House Bill 481 would amend the state law that created BREC, prohibiting the commission from “acquiring, leasing, developing, operating or managing” … a zoo unless it is located in a certain 600-acre area in north Baton Rouge.

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Carpenter says her bill has the support of the mayors of Baker, Central and Zachary in north Baton Rouge as well as Mayor Sharon Weston Broome. More importantly, though, she believes she has support from enough of her fellow legislators to pass the measure, which must first be heard by the House Municipal and Governmental Affairs Committee.

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State Sen. Regina Barrow, a vocal opponent of BREC’s efforts to relocate the zoo out of its Greenwood Park home in her north Baton Rouge district, says she will file a bill when the Legislature convenes Monday to change the composition of the BREC Board of Commissioners. The bill would give the Louisiana Legislature appointment power over three seats on the nine-member board.

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Barrow says her bill would allow state legislators to have a say over who serves on the commission. “I believe the Legislature should have representation on the board, just as the Metro Council does,” Barrow says. “People come to us about BREC-related issues, so I think we should have representation.”

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The bill gives appointment power over the three legislative seats only to lawmakers from north Baton Rouge, two of whom are herself and Carpenter.

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