Louisiana § RS 39:462.1 - Louisiana Rural Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program; purposes

§ RS 39:462.1. Louisiana Rural Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program; purposes

            A. The legislature finds that:

            (1) State government has assisted in funding many local capital outlay projects that are necessary to provide local facilities, but the choice involved with this state funding is to either reduce the amount of funding available for state programs and services or ignore the need for assistance to local governments.

            (2) Even with established state and federal government programs to assist local governments with needed and necessary funding for infrastructure projects, including those for clean water and sewerage projects, local governments encounter financial challenges in meeting local contributions required by the existing state capital outlay program and other infrastructure programs.

            (3) The most effective way of accomplishing the goal of providing for local infrastructure project financing and for preservation of the state fisc over the long term is to establish a low-interest-rate revolving loan fund to be available for local infrastructure projects to provide an alternative means to fund appropriate local infrastructure projects that would otherwise compete with scarce state funding for state projects.

            B. To continue to provide required funding for the planning, design, construction, and maintenance connected with needed infrastructure projects, it is the purpose of this Chapter to provide for the establishment and administration of a program to make loans from a revolving loan fund to assist eligible local governments in funding eligible infrastructure projects and enter into cooperative endeavor agreements and interstate compacts as may be necessary and proper to fulfill the purposes of this Chapter.

            Acts 2023, No. 424, §1, eff. July 1, 2023.