After Hurricane Betsy in 1965, the USACE became the sole authority for the design and construction of flood protection metro New Orleans. The role of the levee boards became primarily maintenance. In time, the levee boards became a source of patronage and some state money may have been diverted to projects unrelated to flood safety; however, such diversion was not relevant to the flood protection failures. The levee failures were due to poor design and construction not to maintenance. A state constitutional amendment recently passed in Louisiana has created a technically competent regional Levee Board whose job will include checking and rechecking the Corps’ work.