New Orleans council is a step closer to S&WB oversight as Senate clears bill

By Ben Myers

Source: The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com

May 21, 2026

The New Orleans City Council is close to gaining control of the Sewerage & Water Board after the Louisiana Senate on Thursday passed a bill authorizing council oversight of the utility’s budgets, personnel and internal policies.

The House already approved its own version of the bill by Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, R-New Orleans, and it will now consider the Senate’s amendments, which are minor. If the House approves, Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign the bill into law.

“What the bill would do is give our City Council and Mayor’s Office more control and authority over the agency, which is much needed,” said state Sen. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, before the 36-0 vote. 

If the bill becomes law, it will pave the way for a massive shift in governance of the city’s sewer, water and drainage systems, one that comes as policymakers in Baton Rouge and New Orleans have tried in recent years to sort through convoluted state and local regulations.

What becomes of the S&WB once the law goes into effect won’t be clear for some time. Hilferty said in a Senate committee this month that the bill is the first step toward folding the standalone utility into a City Hall department. Mayor Helena Moreno, who supports the bill, hasn’t taken a position on that idea.

“The best way to think of this is we are normalizing the Sewerage and Water Board. Many of our other parishes across the state have sewer, water and drainage functions under a Department of Public Works,” Hilferty said at the committee meeting.

Council President JP Morrell at the same meeting agreed the S&WB ought to be subsumed by Public Works, but added that transferring the S&WB’s bond debt – totaling about half a billion dollars – could be difficult for legal and practical reasons.

In a recent interview, Morrell said the council should create policies – on contracting, for example – that guide how the agency operates. But it shouldn’t be allowed to select who gets the contracts, he said.

“If the council was involved in that level of minutia, I think that would validate concerns people have,” Morrell said, alluding to concerns by S&WB board members and others that council control will politicize the city’s water utility. “You’re talking about massive multiyear contracts. I don’t think politics should ever be involved in any of that.” 

Ordinances needed

The council will need to adopt ordinances to exercise its new powers, and it’s not clear when that will happen or what the ordinances will entail. Moreno plans to convene a working group to recommend policies on accountability, governance and ratepayer protections, among other things.

Moreno, who took office in January, serves as president of the 11-member board, the majority of whom are mayoral appointees. Despite that, Moreno has said board members don’t serve at the mayor’s pleasure and therefore lack accountability. Major agency changes currently must be signed off on by the Legislature, as most of the agency’s functions are enshrined in state law.

Moreno and council members have also sharply criticized the S&WB in recent months amid a series of water breaks that flooded homes and businesses and amid other significant problems.

S&WB officials, meanwhile, have expressed concerns about the bill while trying to figure what it means for the future. Board Member Courtney Scrubbs told lawmakers in an April letter that changes could politicize the board and jeopardize its bond rating. Without referring specifically to the bill, Executive Director Randy Hayman publicly criticized the fact that S&WB shares a lobbyist with City Hall. 

The administration says it will announce the members of the working group after a final vote on the bill. Merging the S&WB into city government won’t be a charge of the working group, according to city officials.

Hayman said S&WB “hopes to have a seat at the table” once the group convenes.

“They may very well intend for us to have a seat. I’m just asking to be sure that it’s echoed that we would like to be part of the discussion,” he said at a May 13 committee meeting.

Hayman added that S&WB employees are worried about their positions and pensions, and that agency officials hope “employee retention is kept in mind” as the working group convenes.

Current board

Under the current law, the mayor is president of the 11-member governing board, a majority of whom are New Orleans residents appointed by the mayor with council approval. The board would elect its president under the new law, which also allows the council to make rules on how board members are appointed and their terms of service. Changing the 11-member structure would require a voter-approved city charter amendment.

Morrell, a former state senator, authored the 2013 bill setting up the current board structure, which was meant to insulate the board from political interference. He said it has instead resulted in a board that lacks accountability and transparency.

“It has failed spectacularly,” Morrell told the Senate committee, noting the S&WB’s 14% approval rating in a New Orleans Crime Coalition survey last year.

The nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research, a public policy watchdog, said in a 2023 report the S&WB governing structure creates a “misalignment” of accountability, since the board oversees operations and the council approves water and sewer rates. The result has been strife between the council and utility, and lack of needed investment in infrastructure, according to BGR.

The group called for folding the S&WB entirely within city government or more cleanly separating it, so one body is accountable for funding and operations.

BGR Executive Director Rebecca Mowbray said the new law will “usher in a new era of local control,” while also noting it “does not articulate a specific vision” for changing how the S&WB is governed.

“It will be up to the mayor and the City Council to carefully plan a more effective, accountable and well-funded utility than exists today,” she said.

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