§2324. Status; suits; process; exemption from taxation

A. The Sabine River Authority is hereby declared to be an agency and instrumentality of the state of Louisiana required by the public convenience and necessity for the carrying out of the functions of the state, and to be a corporation and body politic and corporate, with power of perpetual succession, invested with all powers, privileges, rights, and immunities conferred by law upon other corporations of like character including but not limited to port authorities, port commissions, and port, harbor, and terminal districts within the state.

B.(1) The authority shall operate from self-generated revenues and shall not be a budget unit of the state. The authority may, however, receive state appropriations at any time it is deemed advisable by the legislature, and only the expenditure of such appropriated funds shall be subject to budgetary controls or authority of the division of administration. The authority shall establish its own operating budget for the use of its self-generated revenues or unencumbered fund balances subject to majority approval of the board of commissioners of the authority. Any budget adopted shall be effective for a fiscal year commensurate with that of the state. The budget shall be submitted to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget for review and approval.

(2) The authority shall not have the power to levy taxes but it may assess and collect charges, fees, and rentals for the use of its lands or water bottoms and for the construction, installation, maintenance, and operation on such lands or water bottoms, or on the surface of any lake or reservoir owned by it or in which it has an interest, any wharf, dock, boathouse, pier, marine, shop, store, gasoline dispenser, or other commercial establishment. It shall have and possess the authority to sue and be sued. All legal process shall be served upon the chairman of the board of commissioners.

C. The domicile of said authority shall be within Sabine Parish.

D. Said authority, in carrying out the purposes of this Chapter, will be performing an essential public function under the constitution and shall not be required to pay any tax or assessment on its properties or any part thereof, nor to pay any excise, license, or other tax or imposition on its operating revenues, and the bonds issued hereunder and their transfer and the income therefrom shall at all times be free from taxation within this state.

Acts 1987, No. 367, §1, eff. July 3, 1987; Acts 1995, No. 495, §1; Acts 2010, No. 762, §1, eff. June 30, 2010.