Highlights:

Piggybacking on the Center of Public Disclosure’s ranking of Louisiana as the Number One state in the nation in public disclosure, a recent Portfolio.com analysis of how all 50 states and the District of Columbia fared during the recession, Louisiana ranked second best with an overall economic index of 7.298. North Dakota was the only state that fared better than Louisiana with an overall economic index of 7.463.  

There’s more:

Louisiana’s position has improved across a variety of national business climate rankings over the last two years, including Forbes.com’s Best States for Business, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s Business Tax Index and Small Business Survival Index, Beacon Hill Institute’s State Competitiveness Report, Pacific Research Institute’s Economic Freedom Index, CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business, Kauffman’s State New Economy Index and State Policy Reports’ Index of Economic Momentum.

In addition, Louisiana currently ranks in the top five in ethics rankings published by the Better Government Association, and Center for Public Integrity recently announced Louisiana’s legislative disclosure requirement was first in the nation. Louisiana also won the Co-state of the Year award from Southern Business and Development.

The Governor was quoted as stating that while he is pleased, he is not resting on this accomplishment:

“Portfolio.com’s analysis underscores what we have known for a long time — Louisiana’s economy consistently has outperformed the South and the U.S. since the beginning of the national recession,” said Gov. Bobby Jindal. “While we are pleased with this ranking, we will continue to aggressively pursue economic development efforts so that we can remain ahead of the South and the U.S., but more importantly, so that we can create more opportunity for our people.”

This is very impressive.  The state that beat Louisiana is North Dakota.  I salute North Dakota for its clean government and good people but I think Louisiana might have several business advantages over ND – climate, The Big Easy, culture, food and of course the SAINTS!  (Still unbeaten!) 

Here is the press release from Louisiana Economic Development.  I also must thank GOP 12 again. 

Might be IMPORTANT blog news coming up…

“As a result of Jindal’s initiative, Louisiana has rocketed to the top of the Center’s rankings, with 94.5 points, earning the top slot among all 50 states.”

Huey Long may be spinning in his grave but the people of Louisiana will benefit. 

The report did however state that it was not yet possible to verify enforcement and there are legitimate issues here.  But this is not Jindal’s fault (emphasis mine):

“And the new laws included a provision — not part of Jindal’s original proposals on the campaign trail — that stripped the board of its enforcement powers and transferred authority to a newly-created panel of administrative judges, causing the board’s members to resign in protest last June. ”

Perhaps this can be repaired in future sessions of the legislature.  But this is a great step.

BTW, my home state Virginia flunked. 

“Virginia, for example, placed 8th in 1999, but has fallen to 31st place, mostly because other states made improvements while Virginia’s ethics laws remained essentially unchanged. Virginia state legislators must fill out a statement of economic interest annually and must disclose outside employment or investment information. But the state lacks the necessary oversight to ensure that the forms are filled out correctly. While other states have made efforts to ensure accuracy, often with the creation of an independent commission, Virginia’s legislators are mostly left to police themselves.”

Maybe future Governor McDonnell can take a page from the Governor Jindal book!