§524. Revenue bonds

            A. Any governmental entity may issue revenue bonds to construct, acquire, extend, or improve any system or work of public improvement. Such bonds may be secured by a mortgage on the lands, buildings, machinery, and equipment so improved as well as by the pledge of the income and revenues derived or to be derived from the system or work of public improvement owned, leased, or operated by such governmental entity, sufficient in amount to pay the principal of and the interest on such bonds as they severally mature, and such bonds and other debt obligations shall not be a charge upon the other income and revenues of the governmental entity as prohibited under the provisions of Article VI, Section 37 of the Constitution of Louisiana. Any project or undertaking by any such governmental entity from which revenue is or will be derived, whether by lease, rents, fees, charges, or otherwise, shall be considered a revenue-producing work of public improvement within the meaning of this Section.

            B. Revenue bonds issued under this Section shall mature at such time or times not exceeding thirty years from their respective dates, except that revenue bonds sold exclusively to any governmental agency of the United States may mature at such time or times not exceeding forty years from their respective dates.

            C. Revenue bonds issued under this Section shall be payable solely from the revenues derived from the system or work of public improvement, constructed, acquired, extended, or improved with the proceeds thereof, sufficient in amount at all times to meet the required debt service, subject only to prior payment of reasonable and necessary expenses of operating and maintaining such system or work of public improvement. In connection with the construction, acquisition, extension, or improvement of any such revenue-producing system or work of public improvement, any governmental entity is authorized to accept, receive, receipt for, disburse, and expend federal and state monies and other monies, public or private, whether available by grant or loan, or both, for such purposes. Without creating a charge on such revenues, the governmental entity may, in the proceedings authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds under this Section, provide for the use of other taxes or revenues either for the payment of the required debt service on such revenue bonds, or for the payment of reasonable and necessary expenses of operating and maintaining such system or work of public improvement.

            D. The system or work of public improvement shall remain subject to such pledge of revenues or mortgage as may have been authorized by the governing authority under the authority of this Part until the payment in full of the principal and interest on said bonds, and the mortgage or pledge may be foreclosed by seizure and sale of the encumbered property in a manner provided by law for the foreclosure of conventional mortgages including the right to executory process.

            E. When any sale of the mortgaged property is held under the provisions of this Section, the purchaser at the sale, and his successor or assigns, shall be vested with any necessary permit and franchise to maintain and operate the property purchased, and to continue to supply to the public the commodities, products, or services previously supplied by the work of public improvement, with the same powers and privileges previously enjoyed by the governmental entity in the operation of said work of public improvement. This franchise shall continue for such period, not exceeding thirty years, as may be fixed by the governing authority in the resolution authorizing the bonds and shall be subject to all statutory limitations pertaining to the granting of permits or franchises.

            F. Any proceedings authorizing the issuance of bonds under this Section may provide for creation of a sinking fund into which shall be paid from the pledged revenues of the system or work of public improvement, subject only to prior payment of the reasonable and necessary expenses of operating and maintaining the system or work of public improvement, sums sufficient to pay principal of and interest on such bonds and to create such reserve for contingencies as may be provided in such proceedings. The monies in the sinking fund may be applied to the payment of interest on and principal of the bonds or to the purchase or retirement of the bonds prior to maturity in such manner as may be provided in the proceedings.

            G. The proceedings authorizing the issuance of bonds under this Section may contain such covenants with the future owners of the bonds as to the management and operation of the system or work of public improvement, the imposition and collection of fees and charges for the products, commodities, or services furnished thereby, the disposition of fees and revenues, the issuance of future bonds, and the creation of future liens and encumbrances against the system or work of public improvement and the revenues thereof, the carrying of insurance on the properties constituting such work of system or work of public improvement, the disposition of the proceeds of the insurance, and other pertinent matters, as may be deemed necessary by the governing authority to assure the marketability of the bonds, provided these covenants are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Section.

            H. When any governmental entity has issued revenue bonds and pledged the revenues of any system or work of public improvement in whole or in part for payment thereof, it shall impose and collect fees and charges for the products, commodities, and services furnished by such system or work of public improvement, including those furnished to the subdivision itself and its various agencies and departments, in such amounts and at rates as shall be sufficient at all times to pay the expenses of operating and maintaining the system or work of public improvement; provide a sinking fund sufficient to assure the prompt payment of principal and interest on the bonds as each falls due; provide such a reasonable fund for contingencies as may be required by the proceedings authorizing the bonds or other debt obligation and provide an adequate depreciation fund for those repairs, extensions, and improvements to the system or work of public improvement as may be necessary to assure adequate and efficient service to the public. No board or commission other than the governing authority of the governmental entity shall have authority to fix or supervise making of such fees and charges.

            I. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a governing authority, in its discretion, may authorize bonds payable from the revenues to be derived from two or more systems or works of public improvement owned by the governmental entity, and bonds may be so issued for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, extending, or improving any one or more of those systems or works of public improvements. Any bonds so issued shall be secured in the manner provided in this Part on the property of such systems or works of public improvement in the same manner as provided in those instances where bonds are issued payable from the revenues of one system or work of public improvement only.

            J. Revenue bonds shall not be issued under this Section until the governing authority of the governmental entity has adopted an appropriate resolution giving notice of its intention to issue such revenue bonds, including a general description thereof and the security and source of repayment therefor, and notice of this intention has been published in four consecutive weekly issues of a newspaper of general circulation in the parish where the governmental entity 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 such bonds. If at such hearing a petition duly signed by electors of the governmental entity in a number not less than five percent of the number of electors voting at the last election held in the governmental entity object to the issuance of the proposed bonds, then such bonds shall not be issued until approved by a vote of a majority of the qualified electors of the governmental entity who vote at a special election held for such purpose in the manner provided by Chapter 6-A of Title 18 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. Any such petition shall be accompanied by a certificate of the parish registrar of voters certifying that the signers of the petition are registered electors of the governmental entity and the number of signers amount to not less than five percent of the registered electors that voted in the last election held in said governmental entity.

            Acts 2018, No. 569, §1, eff. July 1, 2018.