§996.67. Judicial building fund

A. Subject to the approval of the Judicial Council of the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans and the clerk of court of the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans are hereby authorized to impose the following additional costs of court and service charges provided for in Subsection B of this Section in all cases over which the court has jurisdiction, until the bonded indebtedness or lease obligation provided for in Subsection C of this Section is paid. The costs and charges provided in Subsection B of this Section shall not apply to cases involving juvenile and family matters. The costs and charges may be any amount up to and including the maximum amount set forth and shall be imposed on order of the judges en banc. Such costs and charges shall be paid to the clerk of court when the filing is made.

B.(1) Unless and until the condition in the following paragraph for an increase in the charges is satisfied, the amounts of the costs and charges which may be imposed shall be as provided in this Paragraph.

Service Provided                    Amount of Cost Authorized

(a) Recordings                       Up to thirty dollars per recordation

(b) Civil Filings                     Up to twenty-five dollars per civil filing

(c) Jury Trials                        Up to one hundred dollars per jury requested

(d) Class Actions                   Up to one thousand twenty-five dollars per class certified

(2) After public bids are let for the construction project or, alternatively, if the commission leases a privately constructed facility for use as a courthouse, then after execution of that lease agreement the amounts of costs and charges which may be imposed shall be as provided in this Paragraph.

Service Provided                    Amount of Cost Authorized

(a) Recordings                       Up to thirty dollars per recordation

(b) Civil Filings                     Up to two hundred dollars per civil filing

(c) Jury Trials                        Up to two hundred dollars per jury requested

(d) Class Actions                   Up to two thousand fifty dollars per class certified

(e) All matters filed               Up to ten dollars per item filed into civil

suit record

(3) The matters filed into a civil record upon which the costs provided for in Subparagraph (2)(e) of this Subsection shall be imposed shall include but not be limited to petitions, motions, orders, judgments, citations, rules, evidence, correspondence, affidavits, dismissals, depositions, writs, appeals, answers, subpoenas, and jury matters.

C.(1) Solely for the purposes of this Section, there is hereby created the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans Judicial District Court Building Commission for purposes of the construction and funding of the courthouse, which shall be deemed to be a public commission. The judges, en banc, of the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans shall serve as the board of commissioners thereof. The commission shall be a public corporation with power to contract, administer the proceeds of the costs and charges authorized in this Section, lease, sublease, and otherwise provide for the construction, equipping, maintenance, and operation of a new courthouse for the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans and to pledge and dedicate the receipts of the courthouse construction fund created hereby for the payment of any lease or sublease obligation, loan agreement, or other financing agreement relative thereto.

(2) The commission shall elect a chairman and vice chairman. The judicial administrator for the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans shall serve as secretary-treasurer for the commission.

(3) If the new courthouse is located on property owned by the city of New Orleans and notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, issues regarding ownership and liability for maintenance and operation expenses of the new courthouse shall be provided for between the commission and Orleans Parish in a lease or sublease of the courthouse to the commission or by a cooperative endeavor agreement prior to the awarding of the contract for construction of the new courthouse.

(4) The monies generated pursuant to this Section shall be forwarded by the clerk of court and sheriff to the fiscal agent bank chosen by the commission to be held in the courthouse construction fund. Any funds currently on deposit to the separate account of the judicial expense fund from the costs and charges authorized by this Section shall be transferred at the discretion of the commission to the courthouse construction fund held by the commission's fiscal agent. These monies deposited to the courthouse construction fund shall be dedicated to the design, planning, feasibility, acquisition, construction, equipping, operating, and maintaining a new facility to house the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans, the offices of the clerk of court for Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans, the First City Court, the clerk of the First City Court, the constable of the First City Court, the office of the civil sheriff, the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, the mortgage office, the conveyance office, the notarial archives, and such other courts and parochial offices as may be necessary. No monies generated pursuant to this Section shall be used for payment of any bonded indebtedness involving site acquisition or construction of a new facility unless approved by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget and the State Bond Commission.

(5) For the purposes of this Section, "equipping" shall include but not be limited to expenditures for the purchase and maintenance of computer software and hardware for the agencies housed in the judicial facility.

(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the commission may pledge and dedicate the receipts of the courthouse construction fund for the payment of rent under a lease agreement or for the payment of any obligation, loan agreement, or other financing agreement in connection with the issuance of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness for the commission by the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority or the Louisiana Local Government Environmental Facilities and Community Development Authority.

D. If by August 15, 2021, neither public bids have been let for construction nor a lease agreement executed for a privately constructed facility for use as a courthouse, then the authority provided in this Section to levy the additional costs and charges shall terminate and be null and void. Thereafter, no costs or charges authorized in this Section shall be imposed or collected. If the authority to levy such costs and charges terminates as set forth herein, all funds collected and deposited in the separate account as provided in this Section shall be used solely for capital improvements to the facility then housing the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans.

Acts 2010, No. 900, §1, eff. July 2, 2010; Acts 2014, No. 642, §1; Acts 2015, No. 461, §2, eff. July 1, 2015; Acts 2016, No. 138, §1.