§463.149. Special prestige license plate; "World Champion New Orleans Saints"; distribution of royalty fees

            A. The secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections shall establish a special prestige motor vehicle license plate to commemorate the New Orleans Saints World Football Champions for the 2009 season, provided that there is a minimum of one thousand applicants for such plates. The license plate shall be restricted to use on passenger cars, pickup trucks, recreational vehicles, and vans.

            B. The prestige license plate shall be issued, upon application, to any person, in the same manner as any other motor vehicle license plate.

            C. The license plate shall be designed by the New Orleans Saints in consultation with the state of Louisiana, through the office of motor vehicles.

            D. The charge for the special prestige license plate shall be the standard motor vehicle license tax imposed by Article VII, Section 5 of the Constitution of Louisiana plus an annual royalty fee of twenty-five dollars for each plate, to be collected by the department every two years upon renewal of the plate. A handling fee of three dollars and fifty cents shall also be charged and retained by the department to offset a portion of administrative cost.

            E. The first three hundred plates shall be reserved for purchase at the direction of the New Orleans Saints.

            F. The annual royalty fee shall be collected by the department and deposited into the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District License Plate Dedicated Fund Account. The money received from the royalty fees shall be used solely to pay debt service on state debt issued to fund improvements to the Louisiana Superdome.

            G. There is hereby created, as a special statutorily dedicated fund account within the state treasury, the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District License Plate Dedicated Fund Account, hereafter referred to in this Subsection as the "account". Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after compliance with the requirements of Article VII, Section 9(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana relative to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund, and after a sufficient amount is allocated to pay all of the obligations secured by the full faith and credit of the state which become due and payable within any fiscal year, the treasurer shall pay an amount equal to the annual royalty fee collected by the department into the account. All of the monies in the account shall be appropriated each year by the legislature to the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District for application first to pay principal and interest on any debt issued by the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District and second to pay any operating expenses of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District. Monies deposited into the account shall be categorized as fees and self-generated revenue for the sole purpose of reporting related to the executive budget, supporting documents, and general appropriation bills and shall be available for annual appropriation by the legislature.

            H. The secretary shall adopt rules and regulations as are necessary to implement the provisions of this Section.

            Acts 2010, No. 841, §1, eff. July 1, 2010; Acts 2021, No. 114, §13, eff. July 1, 2022.