2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 34:2309 — Powers and authority

§2309.  Powers and authority

In addition to the powers and authority elsewhere granted in this Chapter, the commission is hereby granted, shall have, and may exercise all powers necessary or convenient for the carrying out of its objects and purposes, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following:

(1)  To sue and be sued, and as such to stand in judgment.

(2)  To adopt, use and alter at will a corporate seal.

(3)  To acquire by purchase, donation, lease, or otherwise, and to hold and use any property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein necessary or desirable for carrying out the objects and purposes of the commission; to sell, lease, transfer, and convey any property or interest therein at any time acquired by it; and to donate by fee simple title, or otherwise convey, to the United States any lands, property, movable and immovable, rights of way, easements or other servitudes, or any of them, which the commission may own or acquire by purchase, donation, expropriation, or otherwise, for use in connection with the construction, improvement, and maintenance of the waterway.  The authority granted by this Paragraph shall extend to the acquisition, in any manner herein provided, and the conveyance of lands, servitudes, or rights of way to the United States which are required by the United States Army, Corps of Engineers, for the construction, improvement, and maintenance of locks and dams along the waterway.

(4)(a)  To expropriate property subject to and in accordance with the general laws of the state in reference thereto;

(b)  To expropriate property on sites for Lock and Dam Numbers 3, 4, and 5 and their respective pools in accordance with the provisions of Part XVIII of Chapter 1 of Title 48 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, provided any certificate, authorization, and estimate required for the expropriation shall be signed by the executive director of the commission.  However, no property may be expropriated pursuant to this Subsection for recreational purposes.

(c)  Prior to a proceeding authorized by (a) or (b) of this Subsection, the commission shall include with offers of acquisition a current survey or a current aerial map drawn to scale showing all property to be acquired or taken, including batture.

(5)  after a public hearing, held after not less than thirty days notice printed in the official journal, to lease any portion of its lands and property except the waterway to any person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation, public or private, such leases to run for a term not exceeding fifty years;

(6)  to bear the expense, in whole or part, of the relocation, construction and maintenance of public ways within the lands acquired by the commission;

(7)  to effectuate and maintain proper depths of water to accommodate the business of the commission, and to regulate the use of water from the waterway;

(8)  to make and collect reasonable charges for the use of all structures, works, locks, wharves, anchorages and special facilities constructed and administered by the commission, and for any and all services rendered by it, but not for the general right of passage in the waterway, and to regulate reasonably the fees and charges to be made by privately owned wharves, docks, warehouses, elevators and other facilities located on property owned by the commission or located within the right-of-way of the waterway when the same are offered for the use of the public;

(9)  for capital outlay, including the cost of acquisition of rights-of-way and compensation for such severance and other collateral damages necessarily incurred in connection with such acquisition, to levy an annual tax in an amount not exceeding in any one year one and one-half mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable property lying within the district; and for the purpose of maintaining and operating the waterway, to levy an annual tax in an amount not exceeding in any one year one-half mill on the dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable property lying within the district; provided, that such taxes as may be levied in the district shall be entitled to the benefit and reimbursal authorized by R.S. 39:253;

(10)(a)  to incur non-funded debt not to exceed in the aggregate the net of the unpledged estimated alimony revenue for the current year;

(b)  to issue certificates of indebtedness due not more than one year after date and as security therefor pledge not to exceed seventy-five per centum of the estimated alimony tax revenue for the current year;

(c)  to fund into bonds of the commission from time to time, in such principal amount as may be necessary for the accomplishment of the capital outlay purposes required, all or any portion of the one and one-half mills capital outlay tax hereinabove provided for, and to prescribe the conditions and details of such bonds within the limitations hereinafter set forth.

(11)  to enter upon any lands, waters and premises in the state for the purpose of making surveys, soundings, drillings, examinations and appraisals, as it may deem necessary or convenient for the purposes of this Chapter, and such entry shall not be deemed a trespass nor shall such entry for such purpose be deemed an entry under any expropriation proceedings which may be pending, provided that five days registered notice in the case of resident owners and fifteen days registered notice in the case of non-resident owners be given to the owner of record of such lands, waters or premises as reflected by the parish assessment rolls, which notice shall be mailed to the last known address of said owner, as shown on said assessment records.  The commission shall make reimbursement for any actual damages resulting to such lands, waters or premises as a result of such activities.

(12)  to reimburse the United States for any money spent by it in the acquisition of any lands, property, servitudes, easements, or rights of way for use in connection with the construction, improvement or maintenance of the waterway.

(13)  To acquire by purchase or donation, but not by expropriation, and thereafter donate or otherwise convey to the United States any lands, servitudes, or rights of way required by the United States Army, Corps of Engineers for the construction of public recreation sites along the waterway, and if necessary, to expropriate for such purpose not in excess of fifty acres at the site of any lock and dam.  The commission shall have no authority under this Paragraph or under Paragraph (3) of this Section to expropriate any land for recreational purposes except as provided in this Paragraph.

(14)  To develop hydro-electric power at the various locks and dams located on the Red River.

(15)(a)  To lease, without bid, real property acquired by any method authorized under Paragraphs (3) and (4) of this Section to the persons from whom the property was acquired, or their successors in title, and who own adjacent or contiguous property to that which the commission acquired. Such leases shall:

(i)  Provide for a fair and equitable return of revenue to the commission based upon the fair market rental value of the property, such rental value to be determined by appraisal based upon the fair market rental value of comparable property not burdened with these restrictions upon the right of lease.

(ii)  Be for agricultural purposes of planting, cultivating, growing, and harvesting of agricultural crops and the grazing of animals, excluding timber, or for recreational purposes, provided that any fences, sheds, barns, or other improvements may be placed upon the property only with the expressed consent and permission of the commission, set forth in the lease or in an amendment to the lease, and any such improvements shall, at the sole discretion of the commission, become the property of the commission at the expiration or termination of the lease.

(iii)  Provide that the lessee shall be solely liable for any personal injury or property damage to the lessee or to any third party which may arise out of any defects in, or use of, the property and shall require the lessee to defend, indemnify, and hold the commission harmless for any such injuries or damages.

(iv)  Provide that the lessee expressly recognize that the property, in whole or in part, may be subject to flooding and other actions of the river, and the lessee shall expressly accept all risks of any personal injury or property damage resulting from such river action, and shall defend, indemnify, and hold the commission harmless from all such injuries or damages.

(v)  Provide that the commission shall have, at its sole discretion, the right at any time to terminate the lease upon thirty days' notice with respect to all or any part of the property, or to suspend the effect of the lease for all or any part of the property for such period of time as the commission may stipulate, and in any such event the sole recourse of the lessee shall be to receive a refund of rental payments for such portion of the property and term of the lease as are affected by such action of the commission.

(vi)  Provide a term of lease that does not exceed five years, including renewal options, but this provision shall not prohibit entering into successive leases based upon then current appraisals of the fair market rental value of the property.

(vii)  Include any other provision not inconsistent with this Section which the commission, in its sole discretion, shall deem appropriate.

(viii)  Be signed on behalf of the commission by the executive director.

(b)  For all property subject to such leases, the exclusive possession and garde of the property shall be vested in the lessee for all purposes, including the purpose of determining liability for personal injury and property damage to the lessee and third parties for occurrences on or about the property.

(c)  All tributaries and distributaries within any property subject to a lease provided for by this Paragraph shall be subject to public access by water without restriction.

(16)  The commission shall not lease any waterbody created by river realignment and the public access to those water bodies shall be retained and shall not be restricted.

Added by Acts 1965, No. 17, §9; Amended by Acts 1970, No. 381, §1; Acts 1975, No. 100, §1; Acts 1975, No. 275, §§1, 2; Acts 1984, No. 956, §1; Acts 1984, No. 269, §1; Acts 1988, No. 263, §1, eff. July 7, 1988; Acts 1989, No. 123, §1, eff. June 22, 1989; Acts 1989, No. 829, §1, eff. July 14, 1989; Acts 1993, No. 602, §1, eff. June 15, 1993.

NOTE:  See Acts 1984, No. 956, §2 concerning application of R.S. 34:2309(4)(B).  R.S. 34:2309(4)(B) shall be null and void on Dec. 31, 1994, pursuant to Acts 1989, No. 123, §1.