§8002. Findings, declaration of necessity and purpose

It is hereby found and declared that:

(1) It is the policy of the state to promote the sound growth and development of parishes and municipalities through the use of tax increment revenues to pay for or finance the cost, or a portion of the cost of providing adequate, safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for families of all income levels; of retaining or attracting industries and commerce through acquisition, construction and rehabilitation of land, buildings, and equipment; of access to such facilities through transportation and mass transportation and public services; and of educational facilities, recreational facilities, public utilities, cultural and other community facilities and medical facilities.

(2) For these purposes, there should be created bodies corporate to be known as "Tax Increment Development Corporations" through which the acquisition, planning, and development of land, buildings and improvements thereto, and the encouragement of maximum participation by the private sector of the economy, including the sale or lease of the corporation's interest in projects, if deemed feasible, may be accomplished. Through participation in programs undertaken by the state, its agencies and subdivisions, parishes and municipalities and the federal government and the issuance of bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness, the corporations and their subsidiaries may provide or obtain the capital resources necessary to acquire, construct or improve industrial, manufacturing, commercial, educational, recreational and cultural facilities, housing accommodations for persons and families of all income levels, facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto, transportation systems and facilities, and may carry out the clearance, planning, mapping, development, and construction of such areas.

(3) The interest of the state will be promoted, and the public interest best served, by permitting the corporations created hereby a wide scope in the purchase, development, and disposition of property acquired by them in connection with tax increment development projects and related activities. Statutory provisions imposing restrictions upon the purchase and disposition of property by public bodies, if applied to such corporations, may hamper such corporations in the exercise of their functions with respect to such projects and related activities and adversely affect the public purposes sought to be achieved by this Chapter.

(4) The acquisition, construction or improvement of industrial, manufacturing and commercial facilities, transportation systems and facilities, and of cultural, educational and recreational facilities and other public facilities; the planning, mapping, development and construction of such areas; the provision of adequate, safe and sanitary housing accommodations for persons and families of all income levels and such facilities as may be incidental or appurtenant thereto, are public uses and public purposes for which public money may be loaned, private property may be acquired, and tax exemptions granted. The powers and duties of the tax increment development corporation and their subsidiaries, as hereinafter prescribed, are necessary and proper as a matter of legislative determination to achieve the public purposes herein recited.

Acts 1988, No. 996, §1.