2015 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 39 - Public Finance
RS 39:824 - Bond elections, notice of intention

§824. Bond elections, notice of intention

A. Where, under any provision of the constitution, any proposition to incur debt and issue bonds is required to be authorized by a vote of the qualified electors in a political subdivision, no debt shall be incurred and no bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness shall be issued under this Part unless authorized by a majority of such electors who vote thereon at an election held for that purpose in the manner provided by law for the conduct of such elections, except as provided in R.S. 39:823.

B. Where the constitution does not require such authorization by a vote of the qualified electors in a political subdivision as a prerequisite to the issuance of bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness, no political subdivision shall issue such bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness until:

(1) The governing authority of the political subdivision has adopted an appropriate resolution giving notice of its intention to issue such bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness, including a general description thereof and the security therefor, and notice of this intention has been published once a week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the political subdivision or in the parish where the political subdivision is located, setting forth a date and time when the governing authority will meet in open and public session to hear any objections to the proposed issuance of the bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness, and

(2) The State Bond Commission has approved the contents of such notice of intention prior to the issuance of such bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness; however, if at the hearing by petition signed by at least five percent of the voters residing in the political subdivision who voted at the last special or general election there is objection to the issuance of the proposed bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness, then the bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness shall not be issued until approved by a vote of a majority of the qualified voters of the political subdivision who vote at a special election held for that purpose in the manner provided by the Election Code for the conduct of such elections. Any such petition shall be accompanied by the certificate of the parish registrar of voters certifying that the signers of the petition are registered voters of the political subdivision and the number of signers amount to not less than five percent of the registered voters that voted in the last such general or special election in the political subdivision.

C. For a period of thirty days after the date of the publication of the minutes of the public hearing providing for in Subsection B, any person in interest shall have the right to contest the legality of the notice and of the authorization of the bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness to be issued in accordance with the provisions of the notice thereof and of the security for such bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness. Thereafter, no person shall have any right of action to contest the validity of the bond, note, or certificate of indebtedness authorization, and such authorization shall be conclusively presumed to be legal, and no court thereafter shall have authority to inquire into such matters.

Amended by Acts 1980, No. 259, §1, eff. July 12, 1980.