BATON ROUGE - Capital Area Transit System CEO Theo Richard says they are against the house bill that will repeal The Capital Area Transit Act, which created the bus system in 2005.

It states that all obligations, property, records and employees would be given to the city-parish government. This will also put them under the city-parish budget.

"Our thoughts is that keeping our services independent of the city-parish allows us to continue to provide the most efficient and also timely response to our customers as well as the community," he said.

CATS has faced heavy scrutiny in the past. In 2022, the CATS board ousted comptroller John Cutrone and former CEO Bill Deville amid a flurry of reports by the Investigative Unit on problems at the agency.

In the last year, the bus system has been in a bitter contract dispute with their drivers. 

State representative of District 68 Dixon McMakin is the one who proposed the bill. He believes this is a way to make the bus system more efficient.

"So for years and years, Capitol Area Transit system I don't think has been run as efficiently and effectively as possible. So what I want to do is take that out of being a state entity, give it back to the city-parish - let them run it. I think there is a lot of things that are happening at CATS that the city-parish already does. HR departments, administrative calls, things like that. If we can take those away, focus the money on the people around our city, more efficient, more effective. I think that will be a boost for everybody," McMakin said.

Richard says they have not read the bill or its intent and have not spoken to city-parish officials. He says they are working with stakeholders to find alternative options.

"We would like to sit down with the representative to see what was offered and also sit down with the city government to see how we can continue to collaborate and build a stronger partnership," he said.

We also reached out to the mayor's office; they declined to comment.