Bill > SB189

This bill establishes the State Land Banking Authority Act, creating a legal framework for local governments in Louisiana to form land bank authorities designed to address economically and physically depressed areas. The authorities can acquire, rehabilitate, and manage abandoned and dilapidated properties with the goal of revitalizing neighborhoods suffering from high unemployment, crime, and urban blight. Local governments can establish these authorities as nonprofit entities, either individually or through intergovernmental agreements, with broad powers including acquiring tax-delinquent properties, obtaining grants, issuing bonds, entering into contracts, and improving real estate. The authorities are exempt from certain taxes and have significant flexibility in managing properties, with the ultimate aim of returning properties to productive use. Key provisions include allowing authorities to accept properties through deed transfers, quiet title to properties, issue bonds to fund rehabilitation efforts, and sell or lease properties to private or nonprofit entities. The bill provides detailed guidelines for the authorities' governance, including board composition, ethical standards, and reporting requirements, while ensuring that the authorities remain accountable to the local governments that create them. Importantly, the authorities cannot exercise eminent domain or impose taxes, and their bonds do not constitute a direct liability of the state or local governments.

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https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=25rs&b=SB189&sbi=y