Louisiana § RS 38:313 - Cessation of activities

§ RS 38:313. Cessation of activities

            A. Any levee district or levee and drainage district created after January 1, 1974, which has not substantially completed the construction of a protection levee and one in which the voters have rejected a parcel fee or ad valorem tax to support construction of a protection levee within five years of its creation shall cease to exist and is hereby abolished upon certification of the legislative auditor as provided in Subsection B of this Section. All funds of the district shall be transferred to the parish governing authority or authorities existing in the area of the former district to be used for flood and drainage protection in the area from which the tax money was collected. Each parish governing authority with jurisdiction in any area of an abolished district shall exercise and perform the powers, duties, functions, responsibilities, programs, and operations in that area of the abolished district within its jurisdiction on and after the date of the district's abolition. Each such parish governing authority shall be the successor in every way to the district in the area located within the parish's jurisdiction, including all of the obligations and debts of the district applicable to the area to the extent of any funds transferred from the district.

            B. Within six months after the end of the five-year period delineated in Subsection A of this Section, the Louisiana legislative auditor shall certify the following:

            (1) When or if the voters of the district have rejected funding for the district, as certified by the Louisiana secretary of state.

            (2) Whether or not there has been a protection levee constructed in the district, as certified by the Department of Transportation and Development or the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board, if the area is located within the coastal area, as defined in R.S. 49:214.2, and involves integrated coastal protection, as defined in R.S. 49:214.2.

            (3) What assets are owned and liabilities owed by the district.

            C. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to districts created with multiple objectives listed as conservation, levee, and drainage districts. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the West Jefferson Levee District, the Lafourche Levee Basin District, the Pontchartrain Levee Basin District, Red River, Atchafalaya, and Bayou Beouf Levee District, Orleans Levee District, Amite River Basin Drainage and Water Conservation District, Grand Isle Independent Levee District, the Atchafalaya Levee District, the St. Tammany Levee District, the Tangipahoa Levee District, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, and the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West Bank.

            D. If any of the provisions of this Section impair the obligations of any contracts, then the provision or provisions are continued, but only for so long, and only to the extent as is necessary for the board to fulfill the obligations of the contract.

            E. Whenever a reference to an abolished levee district or levee and drainage district or to an abolished board of commissioners appears in a statute, or in a contract, or in a legal pleading, or in any other document, that reference shall be deemed to be a reference to the parish governing authority or authorities existing in the area of the former district.

            Acts 1997, No. 1410, §1; Acts 2006, 1^st Ex. Sess., No. 1, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2007; Acts 2012, No. 601, §1, eff. June 7, 2012; Acts 2016, No. 430, §4.