§2603. District as political subdivision and body corporate; purpose and powers; issuing bonds and levying taxes

            A. The Cypress-Black Bayou Recreation and Water Conservation District so created shall be a political subdivision of the state of Louisiana, shall constitute a waterworks district under the provisions of Article VI, Section 19 of the Constitution of Louisiana, as amended, and shall have all the rights, powers, and privileges and immunities hereinafter set forth. Additionally, the district shall be a budgetary unit of the state of Louisiana and shall have for its purpose the development of the wealth and natural resources of the district by the conservation of water for agricultural, municipal, recreational, commercial, industrial, and sanitary purposes.

            B.(1) The Cypress-Black Bayou Recreation and Water Conservation District shall constitute a body corporate in law with all the powers, rights, and privileges and immunities of a public corporation, and all powers necessary for it to carry out the objects for which it was created.

            (2) The district shall have the following powers:

            (a) To sue and be sued and to buy and sell all types of property, both immovable and movable, and to expropriate in accordance with law any properties which may be necessary for the accomplishment of its purposes as herein contemplated.

            (b) To negotiate and execute contracts; to acquire by purchase, gift, expropriation or otherwise every type and specie of property and servitudes, rights of way, and flowage rights necessary to its purpose; and to construct, build, purchase, lease, operate, and maintain any facilities, works, or machinery designed to accomplish the purposes of the district.

            (c) To exercise complete control over the supply of fresh water made available by its facilities which shall be administered for the benefit of the persons residing or owning property within the district and if it should be for the benefit of the district it shall have the authority to sell such water for irrigation, municipal, and industrial uses both within and outside the district.

            (d) To cooperate and contract with the government of the United States or any department or agency thereof and to accept gifts, grants, and donations of property and money therefrom.

            (e) To cooperate with the state of Louisiana or any political subdivision, department, agency, or corporation of the state for the construction, operation, and maintenance of such facilities designed to accomplish the purpose for which the district is created on any basis including the matching of funds and by participating in projects authorized by any federal or state law as it shall see fit.

            (f) To incur debt, issue negotiable bonds, and levy taxes for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, extending, or improving any lands, reservoirs, levees, channels, canals, pipe lines, pumping stations, waterworks plants, and any other facilities, including buildings, machinery, and equipment, for the development of the wealth and natural resources of the district by the conservation and use of water for agricultural, municipal, recreational, commercial, industrial, and sanitary purposes, including the acquisition of all lands incidental or necessary for the construction, use, and enjoyment thereof, such purpose being hereby found and declared to be a public purpose.

            C. The district shall constitute an agency of the state designed to carry out an essential governmental function of the state, and all of the property of the district shall be exempt from taxation.

            D.(1) Any such bonds payable from ad valorem taxation shall be issued under the terms and provisions of Subpart A of Part III of Chapter 4 of Subtitle II of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, and any revenue bonds shall be issued under the terms and provisions of Subpart B or C of Part I of Chapter 10 of Title 33 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, provided, however, that any bonds so issued shall first be approved at a taxpayers election held in the manner prescribed by Part II, Chapter 4, Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950.

            (2) In each instance the board of commissioners of the district shall be the governing authority of the district and shall have all of the rights, powers, and privileges conferred upon the respective governing authorities by said statutes. Additionally, the district shall have authority to levy taxes under the provisions of Article VI, Section 32 of the Constitution of Louisiana for the purpose of improving, operating, and maintaining its facilities, provided any such tax shall first be approved at a taxpayers election as therein required.

            E. In the event any of the aforesaid parts of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 are in conflict with the provisions of this Part, then the provisions of this Part shall control, but in all other respects the cited portions of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 shall apply to the district for the purposes herein indicated.

            Added by Acts 1958, No. 292, §3. Amended by Acts 1966, No. 198, §1; Acts 2021, No. 476, §1, eff. June 29, 2021.