2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 47 — Revenue and taxation
RS 47:820.5.2 — Crescent city connection toll violations

§820.5.2. Crescent City Connection toll violations

A. In the exercise of its toll powers, the Crescent City Connection Division is authorized to exercise so much of the police powers of the state as shall be necessary to maintain the peace and accomplish the orderly handling of authority, subject to the provisions of this Section. The division may adopt such rules and regulations for the method of taking tolls and enforcing violations and the employment and conduct of toll takers and other operating employees as the division in its discretion may deem necessary.

B. Definitions of terms included in R.S. 32:1 apply to terms used in this Section which are not specifically defined in this Subsection. As used in this Section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) "Electronic toll collection" or "ETC" means a system of collecting tolls or charges that is capable of charging an account holder for the appropriate toll by transmission of information between a device on a motor vehicle and a toll collection facility.

(2) "Pay" means paying a toll by cash, by permitting a charge against a valid toll tag account with the division, or by another means of payment approved by the division as applicable at the time.

(3) "Photo-monitoring system" means a motor vehicle sensor installed to work in conjunction with a toll collection facility that automatically produces a photograph, microphotograph, videotape, or other recorded image of a motor vehicle or trailer when the operator of the motor vehicle or trailer fails to pay a toll.

(4) "Registered owner" means a person in whose name a motor vehicle or trailer is registered under the law of a jurisdiction, including a person issued a dealer or transporter registration plate or a lessor of motor vehicles or trailers for public lease.

(5) "Toll" or "tolls" means tolls or charges prescribed by law for the use of the Crescent City Connection Division.

(6) "Toll tag" means the electronic device that the division issues for use with the ETC on the Crescent City Connection.

(7) "Valid toll tag account" means an existing toll tag account with the division with a balance of not less than forty cents.

C. No motor vehicle shall be driven and no motor vehicle or trailer shall be towed through a toll collection facility on the Crescent City Connection without payment of the proper toll. In the event of nonpayment of the proper toll, as evidenced by video or electronic recording, the registered owner of such vehicle or trailer shall be liable to make prompt payment to the division of the proper toll and, in certain circumstances, an administrative fee of twenty-five dollars to recover the cost of collecting the toll.

D. A motor vehicle that is not toll-tag equipped may not pass through a dedicated toll-tag lane. A toll-tag equipped motor vehicle that passes through any toll lane incurs a toll, and the division shall charge the account holder for the appropriate toll. Valid toll tag accounts shall not be charged the administrative fee of twenty-five dollars.

E. The registered owner is prima facie responsible for the payment of the tolls, administrative fees, and late charges that the division assesses in accordance with this Section, and it is not a defense to liability under this Section that a registered owner was not operating the motor vehicle at the time of the failure to pay. However, if a report that the motor vehicle or trailer was stolen is given to a law enforcement officer or agency before the failure to pay a division toll occurs or within forty-eight hours after the registered owner becomes aware of the theft, the registered owner shall not be liable under this Section.

F. The following procedures shall be taken for the collection of tolls, administrative fees, and late charges under this Section:

(1) The division shall send a violation notice by first class mail to a person alleged to be liable as a registered owner at the address shown on the records of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles. The division may aggregate multiple violations in one violation notice. A manual or automatic record of the mailing prepared in the ordinary course of business of this division is prima facie evidence of the mailing of the notice.

(2) The violation notice shall include the name and address of the person alleged to be liable as a registered owner for the failure to pay a toll or tolls under this Section, the amount of the toll or tolls not paid, the registration number of the vehicle or trailer involved, the date and the approximate time of the failure or failures to pay the toll or tolls, the administrative fees due, and such other information as the division may deem appropriate.

(3) The violation notice shall also include a warning that the registered owner must pay the toll or tolls and administrative fees stated in the notice or appeal the violation to the division within thirty days after issuance and describe the means and content of the response for payment or appeal. The failure of the registered owner to appeal the violation in the manner provided and within the delays allowed shall be deemed to be an admission of liability and a waiver of available defenses.

(4) Within thirty calendar days after the date of the issuance of the violation notice, the registered owner to whom the violation notice is issued must either pay the tolls and administrative fees provided by this Section, send a written dispute by mail as provided by this Section, or request a hearing as provided by this Section.

(5) The registered owner may, without waiving the right to a hearing as provided by this Section, and also without waiving judicial review, appeal a violation notice and receive a review and disposition of the violation from a division violation clerk by mail. The appeal by mail must contain a signed statement from the registered owner explaining the basis for the appeal. The signed statement may be accompanied by signed statements from witnesses, police officers, government officials, or other relevant parties or photographs, diagrams, maps, or other relevant documents that the registered owner determines to submit. Statements or materials sent to a violation clerk for review must have attached to them the name and address of the registered owner as well as the number of the violation notice and the date of the violation. All information submitted by the registered owner becomes part of the violation record. The violation clerk shall, within sixty days of receipt of such material, review the material and dismiss or uphold the violation and notify the registered owner of the disposition of the hearing in writing by mail. If the appeal by mail is denied, the violation clerk shall explain the reasons for the determination. The violation clerk shall have the authority to waive administrative fees, in whole or in part, for good cause shown.

(6) A registered owner issued a violation notice may make a written request for an appeal hearing before an agent designated by the division. The violation clerk shall, within thirty days of receipt of a request for an appeal, notify the registered owner in writing by first class mail of the date, time, and place of the hearing. The hearing shall be informal, the rules of evidence shall not apply, the Administrative Procedure Act shall not apply, and the decision of the agent shall be final, subject to judicial review. The parties to the appeal hearing shall be notified in person or by mail of the decision following the hearing. Each written appeal decision shall contain a statement of reasons for the decision including a determination of each issue of fact necessary to the decision. Failure to appear at the date, time, and place specified on the hearing notice shall automatically result in the denial of the appeal. The hearing agent shall have the authority to waive administrative fees, in whole or in part, for good cause shown.

(7) These provisions do not apply to traffic citations and moving violations issued by officers of the Crescent City Connection Division Police Department or other law enforcement personnel.

G. Failure to comply with the requirements of this Section shall result in the following late charges or sanctions or both against the registered owner:

(1) The division may assess the following late charges for late payment, failure to pay, or for otherwise failing to respond to a violation notice as provided by this Section:

(a) A registered owner who fails to pay the administrative fees specified in a violation notice and who fails to appeal a violation notice as provided by this Section within thirty calendar days after the date of the issuance of the violation notice shall incur a late charge of five dollars. The violation clerk shall notify the registered owner by first class mail of this first notice of delinquency.

(b) A registered owner who fails to respond to a violation notice as provided by this Section within forty-five calendar days after the date of the issuance of the violation notice shall incur an additional late charge of fifteen dollars. The violation clerk shall notify the registered owner by first class mail of this notice of delinquency.

(c) A registered owner who fails to respond to a violation notice as provided by this Section within sixty calendar days after the date of the issuance of the violation notice shall incur an additional late charge of twenty dollars. The violation clerk shall notify the registered owner by first class mail of this notice of delinquency and, in addition, notify the Louisiana office of motor vehicles. Upon notice from a violation clerk of the division, the office of motor vehicles shall place the matter on record and shall not renew the driver's license of the registered owner or the registration of the vehicle until after notice from the violation clerk that the matters have been disposed of in accordance with law.

(d) After a notice to the office of motor vehicles provided in Subparagraph (c) of this Paragraph, the division shall not be required to send violation notices or notices of delinquency to registered owners with ten or more toll violations. However, the tolls and administrative fees of such registered owner shall continue to accumulate.

(2) The division may pursue such civil and criminal action as it deems appropriate to collect the tolls and administrative fees assessed in the violation notice as well as such subsequent late charges assessed in accordance with this Section.

H. Admissibility of photo-monitoring evidence:

(1) A photograph, microphotograph, videotape, or other recorded image produced by a photo-monitoring device is admissible in a proceeding to collect a toll or other charge of the division, to collect criminal penalties imposed, or to impose criminal liability for a failure to pay the toll or charge.

(2) An original or facsimile of a certificate, sworn to or affirmed by an agent of the division that states that a failure to pay has occurred and states that it is based upon a personal inspection of a photograph, microphotograph, videotape, or other recorded image produced by a photo-monitoring system, as defined in this Section, is prima facie evidence of the facts contained in the certificate.

(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a photograph, microphotograph, videotape, or other recorded image prepared for enforcement of division tolls is for the exclusive use of the division in the discharge of its duties under this Section.

I. The division shall from time to time designate one or more violation clerks and agents to perform the functions specified in this Section at the pleasure of the division and for such finite or indefinite period as the division deems desirable. The division shall supervise and coordinate the processing of violation notices in accordance with this Section. The division may hire or designate such personnel and organize such sections as the division may deem necessary, or contract for such services, in order to carry out the provisions of this Section.

J. The tolls, administrative fees, and any late charges provided by law which are collected by the Crescent City Connection Division shall continue to be considered as self-generated revenues and are to be deposited in accordance with the Amended and Restated Indenture and Deed of Trust dated as of November 1, 2002, for the financing by the Mississippi River Bridge Authority of the Crescent City Connection, and all supplements thereto, and in furtherance of the provisions of Act No. 402 of 1976 as amended, and in accordance with law vesting the secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development with his legally directed executive and administrative control over the Mississippi River Bridge Authority pursuant to the Executive Reorganization Act, and especially the provisions of Act 315 of 1989, with such funds to be deposited and expended in accordance with the foregoing indenture in the trustee accounts as provided in such indenture, as may be amended, and all pursuant to the provisions of the constitution and laws of Louisiana relative to annual appropriations and capital outlays for the funding of the operations and maintenance of the bridges and ferries under the authority of the Crescent City Connection Division within the Department of Transportation and Development.

Acts 1998, No. 59, §1, eff. June 24, 1998; Acts 2003, No. 727, §3, eff. June 27, 2003; Acts 2006, No. 9, §1, eff. May 4, 2006; Acts 2007, No. 342, §1; Acts 2010, No. 775, §2, eff. June 30, 2010.