A.(1) Any municipality owning and operating a revenue producing electric utility as defined in or covered by R.S. 33:4161, or any public power authority created by any such municipality under the provisions of R.S. 33:4172, acting through its governing authority, is hereby authorized and empowered to contract with any other municipality owning and operating such a revenue producing electric utility or public power authority of the state of Louisiana, or with municipalities, public power authorities or agencies, electric public utilities or rural electric cooperatives, within or without the state of Louisiana, or with the Louisiana Energy and Power Authority created pursuant to Chapter 10-A of this Title, or with any FERC licensee, as defined in Paragraph (6) of this Subsection, for the purchase or sale of the capability of a hydroelectric generating facility or facilities of such Louisiana municipality or public power authority, electric public utilities, rural electric cooperatives, or other person licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or other appropriate federal agency having jurisdiction over the granting of such licenses for a term not exceeding the term of such license on such terms and conditions as shall be specified in a written contract that shall be negotiated and executed without any proceedings other than the approval of such contract by the governing authority or body of such contracting parties.
(2) Any such municipality or public power authority which contracts to purchase or sell such capability or a part thereof is hereby further authorized to provide for the transmission of such capability over transmission facilities owned by it or by a FERC licensee in such manner as may be mutually agreed upon.
(3) Any such hydroelectric facilities and associated transmission facilities may be owned entirely by such municipality or public power authority created by such, may be co-owned in indivision or in divided parts by any such municipality or public power authority with any electric public utility or rural electric cooperative located within the state or with the Louisiana Energy and Power Authority or with a FERC licensee, or may be owned entirely by another FERC licensee.
(4) Any such municipality or public power authority is hereby authorized to engage with one or more other such municipalities, public power authorities, electric public utilities, rural electric cooperatives, or other FERC licensees in the development, construction, operation, use, maintenance, or financing of such hydroelectric facilities and related transmission facilities, as owners or otherwise.
(5)(a) Any such municipality or public power authority may enter into a contract with any such other municipality, public power authority, electric public utility, electric cooperative, or other FERC licensee and may provide therein with respect to the relative rights and obligations of the parties relating to the development, construction, operation, use, maintenance, revenues, and expenses of such hydroelectric facilities and associated transmission facilities, as the parties may determine. All such arrangements and agreements shall be reduced to writing and shall include, among other provisions, the proportionate share of the cost thereof to be borne by the municipality or public power authority.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law relative to the right of partition available to owners of property, the right of partition shall not be available to any party with respect to any property acquired or held subject to the terms of such contract, except to the extent therein provided, and the contract may provide for the sale, lease, use, or other disposition in whole or in part of such property or interest therein by the owner of such property or interest to any other party to such contract on such terms and conditions and in such manner as may be set forth in the contract, without compliance with any laws applicable to the disposition of property of a municipality or other political subdivision or agency or instrumentality thereof and without application of laws relating to lesion beyond moiety.
(c) The contract may also provide for the creation of a usufruct, right of use, servitude, or other similar right in favor of one of the parties to the contract upon such portions of immovable properties comprising the hydroelectric facilities and associated transmission facilities as are not then owned by such party, in which event any such usufruct, right of use, servitude, or other similar right, as the case may be, shall, notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, be for a term that shall be for the term of the contract or such lesser period as may be stipulated therein or in the instrument creating the usufruct, right of use, servitude, or other similar right, as the case may be, may require the owner of the usufruct, right of use, servitude, or other similar right, as the case may be, to pay to the other party or parties to the contract such share of revenues as the contract may provide throughout the term of the agreement or any specified portion thereof, and may permit the municipality or public power authority, without the consent or approval of the State Bond Commission or any other agency, commission, or other regulatory authority of the state of Louisiana or any local political subdivision thereof, to borrow, on such terms and at such rates of interest as the contract may prescribe, against the receipt of such share of future revenues provided that repayment of such borrowing and payment of interest thereon shall be made solely from, or as an offset against, such future revenues and shall not be a general obligation of the municipality or public power authority, or constitute an indebtedness or pledge of the general credit of the municipality or public power authority, or be a charge upon the income of other revenues thereof.
(d) To the extent provided in the contract, the property or facilities which are the subject of such a contract shall not be subject to expropriation by a party thereto during the term of such contract.
(e) Any such municipality or public power authority and any such electric public utility, electric cooperative, or other FERC licensee may construct or acquire such hydroelectric and related transmission facilities by negotiated contract without public advertisement or other limitation of the Public Bid Law or other laws, and title to such facilities shall vest in one or more of the parties to the contract in the proportion and manner therein set forth.
(f) The term of the contract shall be of such duration as the parties may therein stipulate but shall not, in any event, extend more than ninety-nine years beyond the expiration date of the original license granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with respect to the hydroelectric facilities.
(g) The contract shall be authorized by ordinance adopted by the governing body of any municipality which is a party to the contract, and the ordinance shall be published in the same manner as are other proceedings of the governing body. Notice of intention to adopt such an ordinance shall be given by the governing body of the municipality and shall be published one time in the official journal of the municipality at least seven days before the adoption of the ordinance.
(h) Such contract shall not require the consent or approval of any agency, commission, or other regulatory authority of the state of Louisiana or any political subdivision thereof.
(6) As used in this Subpart:
(a) The term "FERC licensee" shall mean and refer to:
(i) Any person licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or other appropriate federal agency on or before December 31, 1988, to construct, operate, or maintain a run-of-the-river hydroelectric generating facility located on the Mississippi River in the state of Louisiana;
(ii) Any person to whom such license has been transferred, in whole or in part, with the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or other appropriate federal agency;
(iii) Any successor, by involuntary transfer or foreclosure or otherwise, to any person to whom such license had been issued, transferred, or assigned, and all subsequent successors of any of the foregoing persons;
(iv) Any assign of any person to whom such license had been issued, transferred, or assigned;
(v) Any successor owner of such hydroelectric facilities;
(b) The term "person" shall mean an individual, a corporation, a partnership, a joint venture, a trust, an unincorporated association, or a government or any agency, municipality, parish, or political subdivision thereof; and
(c) The terms "hydroelectric facilities" or "hydroelectric generating facilities" shall mean and refer to a run-of-the-river hydroelectric generating facility located on the Mississippi River in the state of Louisiana and initially licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or other appropriate federal agency on or before December 31, 1988.
B. The parties entering into contracts pursuant hereto are hereby authorized to create an advisory board with such rights, duties, and obligations with respect to such hydroelectric projects and associated transmission facilities as shall be provided in the written agreement creating such advisory board.
C.(1) In substantially the manner provided by Subpart C of Part I of Chapter 10 of this Title, as amended and supplemented by other constitutional and statutory provisions, including, but not limited to, Chapter 13 of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, any such municipality or any such public power authority of the state of Louisiana, acting through its governing authority, may issue revenue bonds to finance all or any part of the costs of acquiring, constructing, and operating any such hydroelectric project and associated transmission facilities or its respective interest therein, which bonds shall be payable from the revenues of its electric utility system or of its combined utility system or of such project and facilities alone, including payments made to it under contracts entered into pursuant to the provisions hereof.
(2) Any election heretofore held by a municipality to authorize bonds to finance a hydroelectric facility is hereby ratified and approved.
(3) Payments made by any such municipality or public power authority of the state under any contracts entered into in accordance herewith shall be considered as operating expenses of its electric system or combined utilities system or of such project and facilities alone, as the case may be.
D.(1) In addition to the issuance of revenue bonds as described in Subsection C hereof and without the need to comply with the requirements of any other law except the provisions of this Section, any such municipality and/or any such public power authority, acting through its governing authority, may, for the purposes specified in Subsection C, otherwise borrow money and incur indebtedness, that shall be payable solely from the proceeds of such bonds, borrowings, or the revenues of its electric utility system or of its combined utility system or of such project facilities alone, as the case may be, in any manner determined by such governing authority and may create and provide appropriate evidence thereof by adopting an ordinance or resolution containing the terms and conditions of such borrowing, subject to the approval of the State Bond Commission.
(2) The bonds authorized by Subsection C hereof and the indebtedness authorized by this Subsection may be additionally secured by credit guarantees, letters of credit, and/or any other security device or devices approved by the State Bond Commission.
E.(1) Every ordinance or resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds or other debt obligations hereunder shall be published at least once in the official journal of the issuer of such bonds or other debt obligations. Such notice shall state that for thirty days after the date of publication any person in interest may contest the legality of such ordinance or resolution and of any provision therein made for the security and payment of such bonds or other debt obligations, after which no one shall have any cause of action to test the regularity, formality, legality, or effectiveness of the ordinance or resolution and the provisions thereof, for any cause whatever.
(2) Thereafter, it shall be conclusively presumed that every legal requirement for the issuance of the bonds or other debt obligations, including all things pertaining to the election, if any, at which the bonds or other debt obligations were authorized, has been complied with. No court shall have authority to inquire into any of such matters after the expiration of said thirty day period.
F.(1) The provisions hereof shall be liberally construed to the end that through the contracts herein authorized greater economy and efficiency in the provision of electrical and energy services to the citizens of the state may be achieved, and further to this end, the governing authority of each municipality or public power authority entering into a contract as authorized hereby shall be empowered to adopt such other ordinances and resolutions, take such other action, and pay and/or collect such amounts as may be contemplated by or made necessary under such contracts.
(2) The acquisition, construction, ownership, operation, maintenance, and use of a hydroelectric generation facility and associated transmission facilities and the issuance of obligations to finance such facilities is hereby declared to be a valid public purpose in the best interests of the citizens of the state.
{{NOTE: SEE ACTS 1988, NO. 861, §§2 AND 3.}}
{{NOTE: SEE ACTS 1990, NO. 668, §§2 AND 3.}}