§2312. Powers and authority; duties
A. The corporation shall serve as the single review board for all financial assistance,
loans, incentives or inducements, customized workforce training, investment programs, and
any related appropriations, grants, or joint ventures administered by Louisiana Economic
Development, excluding those financial incentive programs administered by the State Board
of Commerce and Industry. The corporation shall formulate and implement the policies for
the delivery of services to obtain the following effects:
(1) The support of innovative private sector research and development activities by
Louisiana businesses intended to generate commercial products, processes, or services by
providing funds to Louisiana small businesses that will apply for or have received federal
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
grant funds, for such federal applications submitted or received after January 1, 2023.
(2) The encouragement of existing venture capital funds to invest in qualified
Louisiana businesses in Louisiana and the encouragement of the formation of seed and
venture capital funds in Louisiana.
(3) The leverage of funds from Louisiana financial institutions by issuing guarantees
for economically disadvantaged and other Louisiana based micro-businesses, small
businesses, medium sized businesses, and business enterprises of persons with disabilities.
(4) The encouragement of firms organized under the Louisiana Business and
Industrial Development Corporation Act to invest in qualified Louisiana businesses in
Louisiana.
(5) The provision of funds for qualified local entities, both private nonprofit and
public, to establish and expand small business incubators.
(6) The provision of funds for infrastructure improvements to retain, expand, or
attract existing and prospective businesses in or to Louisiana.
(7) The assistance to Louisiana local governments to provide infrastructure for
economic development.
(8) The provision of customized workforce training programs to existing and
prospective Louisiana businesses.
(9) The assurance that all qualified Louisiana businesses have capital access.
(10) The provision of lower cost funds for low-interest loans through a linked deposit
program in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of the Treasury.
B. The corporation shall also have the power, authority, and duty to examine the
impediments to the success of Louisiana small businesses from time to time and to adjust
existing programs and develop financial programs that will alleviate such impediments.
C. All programs of the corporation shall be administered pursuant to rules
promulgated and adopted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.
D. The corporation is hereby authorized and shall have all the authority and power
necessary in order to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this Chapter,
including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following specific powers
which shall be in addition to others granted in this Section:
(1) To develop, implement, and undertake programs of financing assistance, grants,
and investment in order to fulfill the authorized purposes of this Chapter and to provide
uniform programs of public finance for the projects and programs described in this Chapter.
(2) To sue and be sued.
(3) To adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws, orders, rules, and regulations in accordance
with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act to govern the affairs and conduct
of its business in order to effectuate the provisions of this Chapter.
(4) To acquire, by purchase, lease, option, gift, grant, bequest, or devise, any
property, real or personal, or any interest therein which it may deem necessary to carry out
the purposes and provisions of this Chapter.
(5) To sell, convey, mortgage, lease, transfer, donate, option, exchange, or otherwise
dispose of any property, either real or personal, or any interest therein, as the objects and
purposes of the corporation may require to carry out the provisions of this Chapter, subject
to such limitations as may be prescribed by law.
(6)(a) To issue industrial revenue bonds of the corporation, not to exceed fifty
million dollars annually and subject to approval by the State Bond Commission, payable
from and secured by a pledge of assets of the corporation derived or to be derived by it from
undertakings, including any loans, grants, or contribution of funds made or to be made to it
by the federal government or by state or local governments in aid of any of its other activities
or operations. The principal and interest on any bonds issued by the corporation shall be
secured by a second mortgage or other instrument covering all or any part of any lands or all
or any part of a development project, including any additions, improvements, extensions to,
or enlargements of any development project thereafter made.
(b) Bonds which are issued under this Section are declared to be issued for an
essential public purpose and, together with all interest thereon and income therefrom, shall
be exempt from all taxes.
(7) To make, enter into, and execute all contracts, agreements, guarantees, and to
give such security as the corporation determines may be required, with any person or agency,
public or private, necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution
of its powers under this Chapter.
(8) To borrow money and to apply for and to receive and accept from any federal
agency, the state, or any political subdivision of the state, or from any public or private
source, any grants, loans, or advances for or in the aid of an economic development
cooperative endeavor, project, or projects, and to give such security as may be required and
to enter into and carry out a contract of agreements in connection therewith, provided that
public notice is given prior to such action and such action has been approved by a simple
majority of the board.
(9) To invest funds in venture capital financing in the manner prescribed by this
Chapter.
(10) To invest any funds not required for immediate use or held in reserve in the
manner prescribed by this Chapter.
(11) To prepare and promulgate reasonable rules, regulations, and policies for
applications for loans, credit instruments, and any and all other forms, rules, policies,
regulations, or procedures necessary in order to carry out its functions.
(12) To procure insurance against any losses in connection with its property in such
amounts and from such insurers as may be necessary and desirable.
(13) To make, participate in, or guarantee loans, either directly or in cooperation with
banks or other lending agencies through agreements to participate on an immediate or
deferred basis.
(14) To adapt its programs in such manner as to make maximum use of new sources
of leverage and federal and other programs, in the interest of expanding the small business
sector in Louisiana and encouraging the existence of capital markets accessible to small
businesses.
(15) To direct the state treasurer to invest, in a separate portfolio, the funds received
for Louisiana Economic Development from any federal agency in accordance with federal
guidelines. All investment income, net of investment expenditures, shall be credited to
Louisiana Economic Development to be used as program revenue for associated funding.
E. In addition to those powers granted to the corporation by this Chapter, the
corporation shall have the following powers:
(1) To borrow money and to issue, from time to time, its bonds to pay the cost of the
projects for which such bonds have been issued, including but not limited to the power to
issue, from time to time, bonds to renew or to pay bonds, including the interest thereon.
Whenever bonds can be refunded to obtain interest rates which are lower than the interest
paid on existing bonds, the corporation shall have the power to refund any bonds by the
issuance of new bonds, whether the bonds to be refunded have or have not matured, and to
refund bonds partly to refund outstanding bonds. Refunding bonds may be sold and the
proceeds applied to the purchase, redemption, or payment of the bonds to be refunded, or
exchanged for the bonds to be refunded.
(2) The corporation may undertake the financing of the cost of a project for an
eligible small business from the proceeds of its bonds by one or more of the following
methods:
(a) Entering into a lease for the facilities of the eligible small business being
financed.
(b) Selling such facilities to the eligible small business under a sales contract.
(c) Entering into such other transaction or transactions as the corporation deems
appropriate to accomplish the purposes of this Chapter and the security of the bonds.
(3) In addition to, and not as a limitation upon, the powers of the corporation to issue
bonds as elsewhere conferred in this Chapter, the corporation shall also have the power to
issue bonds, the proceeds of which, after payment of the costs of issuance thereof, will be
used to carry out the purposes of this Section.
(4) The corporation may create an insurance or guaranty fund which may be used for
any of the following:
(a) To insure the payment and repayment of all or any part of the principal of,
redemptions or prepayment premiums or penalties on, and interest on its bonds.
(b) To insure the payment or repayment of all or any part of the principal of,
redemption or prepayment premiums or penalties on, and interest on any instrument
executed, obtained, or delivered in connection with the issuance and sale of its bonds.
(5)(a) The bonds shall be authorized by resolution of the corporation, shall bear such
date or dates, and shall mature at such time or times as such resolution may provide, except
that no bond shall mature more than thirty years from the date of issue.
(b) The bonds shall bear interest at such rate or rates, be in such denominations, be
in such form, carry such registration privileges, be executed in such manner, be payable in
such medium of payment, at such place or places, and be subject to such terms of
redemption, including redemption prior to maturity, as such resolution may provide.
(6) Such bonds may be sold by the corporation in such manner and from time to time
at public or private sale, at such price or prices as may be determined by the corporation, and
the corporation may pay all expenses and commissions that it may deem necessary or
advantageous in connection with the issuance and sale thereof. Such bonds shall have all the
qualities of negotiable instruments under the law merchant and the commercial laws of the
state of Louisiana.
(7) All bonds authorized to be issued by the corporation shall be submitted to and
approved by the State Bond Commission prior to the issuance and delivery of said bonds.
(8) The corporation shall have the power to contract with the holders of any of its
bonds as to the custody, collection, securing, investment, and payment of any money of the
corporation and of any money held in trust or otherwise for the payment of bonds and to
carry out such contract. Money held in trust or otherwise for the payment of bonds or in any
way to secure bonds and deposits of money of the corporation, and all banks and trust
companies are authorized to give security for the deposits.
(9) In the event that any of the members or officers of the corporation shall cease to
be members or officers of the corporation prior to the delivery of any bonds signed by them,
their signatures or facsimiles thereof shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all
purposes, the same as if such members or officers had remained in office until such delivery.
(10) Subsequent amendments to this Chapter shall not limit the rights vested in the
corporation with respect to any agreements made with, or remedies available to, the holders
of bonds issued under this Chapter prior to enactment of the amendments until the bonds,
together with all interest thereon, and all costs and expenses in connection with any
proceeding by or on behalf of the holders, are fully met and discharged.
(11) The corporation is hereby declared to be performing a public function and to be
a public body corporate. Accordingly, the income, including any profit made on the sale
thereof from all bonds issued by the company, shall at all times be exempt from all taxation
by the state or any public subdivision thereof. If, after all indebtedness and other obligations
of the company are discharged the corporation is dissolved, its remaining assets shall inure
to the benefit of the state.
(12)(a) The bonds issued by and under the authority of this Chapter by the
corporation are declared to be legal instruments in which all public officers or public bodies
of the state, its political subdivisions, all municipalities and municipal subdivisions, all
insurance companies and associations, and other persons carrying on insurance business, all
banks, bankers, banking associations, trust companies, savings associations, including
savings and loan associations, building and loan associations, investment companies, and
other persons carrying on banking business, all administrators, guardians, executors, trustees,
and other fiduciaries, and all other persons who are now or may later be authorized to invest
in bonds or in other obligations of the state, may invest funds, including capital, in their
control or belonging to them.
(b) Such bonds are also hereby made securities which may be deposited with and
received by all public officers and bodies of the state or any agency or political subdivision
of the state and all municipalities and public corporations for any purpose for which the
deposit of bonds or other obligations of the state is now or may be later authorized by law.
F. Repealed by Acts 2010, No. 1034, §3.
G. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any person receiving any
financial assistance or grant or participating in investment programs administered by
Louisiana Economic Development through the corporation shall be a citizen of the United
States.