§523. Sales tax bonds

A. A governmental entity that is authorized to levy and collect a sales tax or a municipality or school board that receives an allocation of a sales tax levied by a parish, may fund sales tax revenues into bonds and issue the bonds from time to time for the purpose or purposes for which such tax may be levied, the bonds to be payable from and secured by an irrevocable pledge and dedication of sales tax revenues subject only to the prior payment of the costs and expenses of collection and administration of such tax.

B. Any governmental entity, including the city of New Orleans, previously authorized to issue sales tax bonds under the provisions of Subpart F of Part III of Chapter 4 of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, is specifically authorized to issue sales tax bonds pursuant to this Section in the alternative, without the necessity of any further authorization or voter approval.

C. The maturities of sales tax bonds shall be so arranged that the total amount of principal and interest falling due in any fiscal year of the governmental entity, together with principal and interest falling due in such fiscal year on all bonds payable from the same sales tax theretofore issued and then outstanding, shall never exceed seventy-five percent of the amount of sales tax revenues estimated by the governing authority to be received by it in the fiscal year in which the bonds are issued. The final maturity of sales tax bonds shall be no later than twenty-five years from the date of issuance or the ninety days following the expiration date of the pledged sales tax, whichever occurs first.

D. Bonds issued under this Section shall constitute a borrowing solely upon the credit of the sales tax revenues received or to be received by the governmental entity and shall not constitute an indebtedness or pledge of the general credit of the governmental entity within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory provision relating to the incurring of indebtedness, and the bonds shall contain a recital to that effect.

E. As specified by Article VI, Section 29 of the Constitution of Louisiana, when any bonds shall have been issued under this Section, neither the legislature, the governing authority, nor any other authority shall discontinue or decrease the sales tax or permit to be discontinued or decreased the sales tax in anticipation of the collection of which such bonds have been issued, or in any way make any change in the allocation and dedication of the proceeds of such sales tax which would diminish the amount of the sales tax revenues to be received by the governmental entity until all of such bonds shall have been retired as to principal and interest, and there is hereby vested in the owners and holders from time to time of such bonds a contractual right under the provisions of this Part.

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