NOTE: §23 eff. until ratification of the const. amend. proposed by Acts 2024, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 1.

§23. Adjustment of Ad Valorem Tax Millages

            Section 23.(A) First Adjustment. Prior to the end of the third year after the effective date of this constitution, the assessors and the Louisiana Tax Commission or its successor shall complete determination of the fair market value or the use value of all property subject to taxation within each parish for use in implementing this Article. Except as provided in this Section, the total amount of ad valorem taxes collected by any taxing authority in the year in which Sections 18 and 20 of this Article are implemented shall not be increased or decreased, because of their provisions, above or below ad valorem taxes collected by that taxing authority in the year preceding implementation. To accomplish this result, it shall be mandatory for each affected taxing authority, in the year in which Sections 18 and 20 of this Article are implemented, to adjust millages upwards or downwards without regard to millage limitations contained in this constitution, and the maximum authorized millages shall be increased or decreased, without further voter approval, in proportion to the amount of the adjustment upward or downward. Thereafter, such millages shall remain in effect unless changed as permitted by this constitution.

            (B) Subsequent Adjustments. Except as otherwise permitted in this Section, the total amount of ad valorem taxes collected by any taxing authority in the year in which the reappraisal and valuation provisions of Section 18, Paragraph (F) of this Article are implemented shall not be increased or decreased because of a reappraisal or valuation or increases or decreases in the homestead exemption above or below the total amount of ad valorem taxes collected by that taxing authority in the year preceding implementation of the reappraisal and valuation. To accomplish this result, the provisions of millage adjustments relative to implementation of Section 18 and Section 20 of this Article, as set forth in Paragraph (A) of this Section shall be mandatory. Thereafter, following implementation of each subsequent reappraisal and valuation required by Paragraph (F) of Section 18 of this Article, the millages as fixed in each such implementation shall remain in effect unless changed as permitted by Paragraph (C) of this Section.

            (C) Increases Permitted. Nothing herein shall prohibit a taxing authority from collecting, in the year in which Sections 18 and 20 of this Article are implemented or in any subsequent year, a larger dollar amount of ad valorem taxes by (1) levying additional or increased millages as provided by law or (2) placing additional property on the tax rolls. Increases in the millage rate in excess of the rates established as provided by Paragraph (B) above but not in excess of the prior year's maximum authorized millage rate may be levied by two-thirds vote of the total membership of a taxing authority without further voter approval but only after a public hearing held in accordance with the open meetings law; however, in addition to any other requirements of the open meetings law, public notice of the time, place, and subject matter of such hearing shall be published on two separate days no less than thirty days before the public hearing. Such public notice shall be published in the official journal of the taxing authority, and another newspaper with a larger circulation within the taxing authority than the official journal of the taxing authority, if there is one.

            (D) Application. This Section shall not apply to millages required to be levied for the payment of general obligation bonds.

NOTE: §23 eff. upon ratification of the const. amend. proposed by Acts 2024, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 1.

§23. Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation Fund

            Section 23.(A) Conservation Fund. There shall be established in the state treasury, as a special fund, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation Fund, hereinafter referred to as the Conservation Fund. Out of the funds remaining in the Bond Security and Redemption Fund after a sufficient amount is allocated from that fund to pay all obligations secured by the full faith and credit of the state which become due and payable within any fiscal year as required by Article VII, Section 13(B) of this constitution, the treasurer shall pay into the Conservation Fund all of the following, except as provided in Article VII, Section 13(A), and except for the amount provided in R.S. 56:10(B)(1)(a) as that provision existed on December 23, 1987:

            (1)(a) All revenue from the types and classes of fees, licenses, permits, royalties, or other revenue paid into the Conservation Fund as provided by law on December 23, 1987. Such revenue shall be deposited in the Conservation Fund even if the names of such fees, licenses, permits, or other revenues are changed.

            (b) Any increase in the amount charged for such fees, licenses, permits, royalties, and other revenue, or any new fee, license, permit, royalty, or other revenue, enacted by the legislature after the December 23, 1987, shall be irrevocably dedicated and deposited in the Conservation Fund unless the legislature enacts a law specifically appropriating or dedicating such revenue to another fund or purpose.

            (2) The balance remaining on June 30, 1988 in the Conservation Fund established pursuant to R.S. 56:10.

            (3) All funds or revenues which may be donated expressly to the Conservation Fund.

            (B) The monies in the Conservation Fund shall be appropriated by the legislature to the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, or its successor, and shall be used solely for the programs and purposes of conservation, protection, preservation, management, and replenishment of the state's natural resources and wildlife, including use for land acquisition or for federal matching fund programs which promote such purposes, and for the operation and administration of the Department and the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, or their successors.

            (C) All unexpended and unencumbered monies in the Conservation Fund at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the fund. The monies in the fund shall be invested by the treasurer in the manner provided by law. All interest earned on monies invested by the treasurer shall be deposited in the fund. The treasurer shall prepare and submit to the department on a quarterly basis a printed report showing the amount of money contained in the fund from all sources.

            Amended by Acts 1980, 2nd Ex.Sess., No. 1, §1, approved Nov. 4, 1980, eff. Dec. 8, 1980; Acts 1997, No. 1496, §1, approved Oct. 3, 1998, eff. Nov. 5, 1998; Acts 2024, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 1, §1, See Act.