On Friday, Louisiana Governor Jindal took action to deal with the fuel shortage, unemployment claims, interruption of legal prescriptions and payment of taxes.  Here are some of the most recent developments:

Fuel Shortage

On Friday, Governor Jindal sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service to request the suspension of the dyed fuel penalty when dyed diesel fuel is sold for use on the highway until September 30, 2008. According to the Governor, “this will help increase the supply of fuel available for rescue, response, and recovery as well as to minimize the financial burden of our relief efforts.”

Jindal said in his letter to the Commissioner of the IRS, “The purpose of this request is to increase the supply of fuel available for rescue, response, and recovery as well as to minimize the financial burden of relief efforts due to potential supply disruptions cause by Hurricane Gustav.

This waiver will be in effect until September 30, 2008, unless extended, modified, or repealed by your agency.”

Unemployment Claims

Governor Jindal also signed an executive order today to suspend certain procedures for unemployment claims.  In the Order, Jindal said, “Hurricane Gustav, and its aftermath, has displaced thousands of workers and employers from their homes and places of business and in addition to the displaced individuals, Hurricane Gustav has caused numerous communication challenges due to the interruption of mail service, phone service and electricity”.    Jindal’s Order also cited “the evacuations, displacements, communication issues, the inability of employers to access personnel files, and the extraordinary volume of resulting unemployment claims pose serious challenges to the effective and timely administration of the unemployment compensation system” and is requesting that due to the extreme volume of claims to be processed, suspend R.S. 23:1533, 1552, 1600(2) and (3), and 1601(1), (2) and (7)(a), (b) and (d) for disaster-related claims, so as to allow the timely and fair administration of the unemployment insurance program;  In the Order, Jindal defined for the purpose of this executive order, "disaster-related claims" shall mean claims for unemployment compensation filed by persons whose unemployment is directly due to the effects of Hurricane Gustav or due to their inability to get to their job or worksite because they cannot travel through a disaster parish, as determined by the administrator of the state's unemployment compensation program, i.e., the executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission.  Disaster-related claims will not necessarily include all claims in all parishes included in Hurricane Gustav disaster proclamations, declarations or orders.

The Order also states:

SECTION 2:              The following statutes relative to unemployment insurance are hereby suspended to the extent and in the manner described below:

A.         R.S. 23:1533, which provides for claimants' benefits to be charged against base period employers for purposes of employers' tax experience rating and the protesting of such charges by employers, shall be suspended for disaster-related claims made during the effective period of this Order.

                                   B.        R.S. 23:1552, which provides for the charging of claimants' benefits to certain employers, shall be suspended for disaster-related claims made during the effective period of this Order.

C.        R.S. 23:1600(2) and (3) shall be suspended while this Order is in effect for disaster-related claims to the extent that they require claimants to register and search for work, but the requirements in R.S. 23:1600(2) that claimants continue to report at an employment office in the manner prescribed by the administrator, and in R.S. 23:1600(3) that claimants be able to work and be available for work, are not waived.  The requirement to continue to report at an employment office, which is accomplished through either an automated telephone system or the Internet, is not impractical and avoids overpayments, which claimants would be liable to repay. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Gustav the waived requirements are not practical for claimants without fixed temporary or permanent housing and verification of such activities is not practical in many areas affected by Hurricane Gustav.

D.        R.S. 23:1601(1), (2) and (7)(a), (b) and (d), which provide certain disqualifications for otherwise eligible claimants, shall be suspended for disaster-related claims beginning while this Order is in effect.  Persons having disaster-related claims were not discharged from their employment nor did they quit or leave their employment as contemplated by R.S. 23:1601(1) and (2), and the case-by-case adjudication of these issues would be an unproductive and unnecessary use of agency resources that should be devoted to processing the extraordinary high volume of disaster-related claims that will be filed.  Calculation of the waived §1601(7) offsets from unemployment benefits would unduly delay payment, given the volume of claims and the volume of employers and claimants without access to the pertinent records.  Regardless of the waiver of R.S. 23:1601(7), the requirement in R.S. 23:1600, that a claimant be "unemployed" as defined in R.S. 23:1472(19), is not waived.  Persons who are paid by their employers, but who performed no services for the week(s) paid, are not unemployed and therefore are not eligible to receive unemployment benefits for any such week.  Also, this waiver shall not affect the offset of wages from a claimant's weekly benefit amount pursuant to R.S. 23:1593.

SECTION 3:                          This Order is effective upon signature for those parishes already covered by the Major Disaster Presidential Declaration dated September 1, 2008, and to those parishes covered by any subsequent expansion of the September 1, 2008 Declaration. This shall apply retroactively from the date of the first evacuation, i.e., Friday, August 29, 2008, and shall continue through Sunday, September 21, 2008, unless amended, modified, terminated, or rescinded by the governor, or otherwise prior thereto.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand officially and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of Louisiana, at the Capitol, in the city of Baton Rouge, on this 5th day of September, 2008.

__________________________

GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA

ATTEST BY

THE GOVERNOR

______________________

SECRETARY OF STATE

Interruption of Legal Proceedings

Governor Jindal Issues Executive Order on Legal Regulatory Proceedings

BATON ROUGE – Today, Governor Jindal,  at the request of the Speaker of the House of Representative, the President of the Senate, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Louisiana Association of Justice, and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, I signed an executive order today to suspend all deadlines for legal, administrative, and regulatory proceedings in all Louisiana state courts until Friday, September 12, 2008.

Emergency Suspension of Deadlines in Legal, Administrative, and Regulatory Proceedings:

WHEREAS,         the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act, R.S. 29:721, et seq., confers upon the governor of the state of Louisiana emergency powers to deal with emergencies and disasters, including those caused by fire, flood, earthquake or other natural or man-made causes;

WHEREAS,         Hurricane Gustav struck the state of Louisiana causing severe flooding and damage to the state, which has threatened the safety and security of the citizens in the affected areas, along with private property and public facilities;

WHEREAS,         pursuant to Proclamation No. 51 BJ 2008, a state of emergency was declared for the entire state on August 27, 2008, and is currently in effect;

WHEREAS,         as a direct consequence of the disaster, evacuation, and subsequent flooding and power outages, there are extreme challenges to communication networks between citizens, which has created an obstruction to citizens attempting to timely exercise their rights to effectively pursue or defend claims in legal, administrative, and regulatory proceedings;

WHEREAS,         La. Constitution Art. I §22 provides that all courts shall be open, and every person shall have an adequate remedy by due process of law and justice, administered without denial, partiality, or unreasonable delay, for injury to him in his person, property, reputation, or other rights;

WHEREAS,         Hurricane Gustav has also rendered several court houses and other state facilities temporarily inoperable and/or not fit for occupancy;

WHEREAS,         the destruction and disruption of services and infrastructure to our system of justice caused by Hurricane Gustav will have a profound impact on the basic rights to an untold number of persons unless action is taken to suspend the effects of the tolling of legal delays during the period of this emergency; and

WHEREAS,         the Speaker of the House of Representative, the President of the Senate, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Louisiana Association of Justice, and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel have each requested the governor to suspend all deadlines applicable to legal, administrative, and regulatory proceedings, including prescription and peremption, in all Louisiana state courts, administrative agencies and boards;

NOW THEREFORE I, BOBBY JINDAL, Governor of the state of Louisiana, by virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution and laws of the state of Louisiana, do hereby order and direct as follows:

SECTION 1:        All deadlines in legal, administrative, and regulatory proceedings, including liberative prescriptive and peremptive periods in all courts, administrative agencies, and boards are hereby suspended until Friday, September 12, 2008, including, but not limited to, any such deadlines set for in the following:

A. Louisiana Civil Code;

B. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure;

C. R.S. Title 9, Civil Code Ancillaries;

D. R.S. Title 13, Courts and Judicial Procedure;

E. R. S. Title 18, Chapter 11, Election Campaign Finance;

F.  R.S. Title 23, Chapter 10, Worker’s Compensation;

G. R.S. Title 40, Chapter 5 Part XXI-A, Malpractice Liability for State Services;

H. R.S. Title 40, Chapter 5, Part XXIII, Medical Malpractice; and

I.  R.S. Title 49, Chapter 13, Administrative Procedure.

SECTION 2:        This Order is effective upon signature and shall apply retroactively from Friday, August 29, 2008, through Friday, September 12, 2008, unless amended, modified, terminated, or rescinded by the governor, or terminated by operation of law prior to such time.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand officially and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of Louisiana, in the city of Baton Rouge, on this 5th day of September, 2008.

_______________________________

GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA

ATTEST BY

THE GOVERNOR

_______________________________

SECRETARY OF STATE

Taxes

The Louisiana Department of Revenue (LDR) is granting filing extensions to taxpayers whose filing addresses or whose tax preparers' addresses are located in Louisiana communities declared federal disaster areas by President Bush following Hurricane Gustav. Taxpayers who reside outside of a disaster area but whose books, records or tax professionals are located in the relief area will also be assisted.

LDR will recognize the January 5, 2009, extensions granted by the IRS for income-related taxes, which includes individual, corporation, declaration of estimates, and corporation franchise tax. The extensions are available on returns and payments due between September 1, 2008, and January 5, 2009. LDR will waive applicable penalties and abate interest that would otherwise apply on these returns.

In addition, employee withholdings due on or after Sept. 1, 2008, and on or before Sept. 16, 2008,! will not be subject to penalty or interest as long as these returns and payments are received by September 16, 2008.

If a taxpayer receives a notice from LDR, they should call any of the following offices of the Department: Alexandria Regional Office, (318) 487-5333; Baton Rouge Headquarters, (225) 219-7318 or (225) 219-0102; Baton Rouge Regional Office, (225) 922-2300; Lafayette Regional Office, (337) 262-5455; Lake Charles Regional Office, (337) 491-2504; Monroe Regional Office, (318) 362-3151; New Orleans Regional Office, (504) 568-5233; Shreveport Regional Office, (318) 676-7505; and Thibodaux Regional Office, (985) 447-0976.

Affected taxpayers whose businesses, homes or tax professionals are located in a disaster area should write "Hurricane Gustav" in BLACK ink on the top of their returns.

Filing extensions on other taxes will be announced next week.

For information about federal filing extensions related to Hurricane Gusta! v, visit the "Help for Hurricane Victims" page of the IRS website, www.irs.gov.