§3055. Powers; duties; functions

To accomplish the purposes of this Chapter, and for the general welfare and health of the citizens of Louisiana, the authority shall have the following powers, duties, and functions:

(1) To designate as a participating institution any public or private hospital, medical or health corporation or institution which delivers medical and health services or provides facilities therefor within the primary service area and which applies for and is accepted in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the board of trustees of the authority. The board of trustees of the authority is hereby authorized to promulgate rules and regulations with respect to the primary or participating institutions, which rules and regulations shall be consistent with the purposes of the authority.

(2) To sue and be sued in its own name.

(3) To employ consulting engineers, architects, attorneys, accountants, construction and financial experts, superintendents, managers and other such employees and agents as may be necessary to carry out its purposes, and to fix their compensation.

(4) To make contracts of every nature and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient for the carrying out of its business, and to pledge, hypothecate or otherwise encumber all or any of its receipts as security for all or any of the obligations of the authority.

(5) To solicit, accept, and collect funds, federal, state, or local grants, donations, and contributions in cash or in property and to take by will or bequest, donation, devise, or other legal means, in trust or absolutely, immovable or movable property, whether corporeal or incorporeal, subject to the terms, conditions, or limitations contained in the instrument by which such property is acquired. The authority is hereby specifically empowered to serve as the beneficiary of a public trust heretofore or hereafter created pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 9:2341 through 2347. The authority may also accept and expend any sum appropriated by the federal government, the state of Louisiana, or any political subdivision or agency thereof for the purpose of administering the provisions of this Chapter or for the carrying out of any purposes or functions of the authority authorized in this Chapter.

(6) To acquire real and personal property by lease, purchase, donation or otherwise, including, but not limited to, the following: land; oil, gas and mineral rights; stocks; bonds; notes; and any other things of value. Title thereto shall be taken in the name of the authority. The authority shall have the right to expropriate real property in accordance with the provisions of Part I of Title 19 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, as amended, in connection with the financing of projects of primary institutions, but only in accordance with its master plan, provided that the authority shall not have the right to acquire property belonging to public institutions or private educational, medical, or religious institutions without the consent of those institutions. The authority of the Health Education Authority of Louisiana to expropriate property shall be limited to the geographic area located within the boundaries of the Louisiana Medical Complex at New Orleans as shown in the master plan of the authority in effect on January 1, 1975, provided that the area of land bounded by and including LaSalle Street, Perdido Street, Clara Street and Poydras Street in the city of New Orleans shall not be included within said Louisiana Medical Complex.

(7) To own, hold, sell, mortgage, convey, lease, rent, alienate, and otherwise manage, contract with reference to, or dispose of, all or any part of its property, immovable or movable, or services, on any terms and conditions as may be lawful and consistent with the provisions and objectives of this Chapter, and likewise to invest all proceeds and income of such property in any type or kind of property, immovable or movable, corporeal, or incorporeal, as appears advisable to the board; provided that the authority shall not lease any facility acquired for demolition, including individual rooms or apartments or housing accommodations acquired for such purpose, for longer than a period of one year at a time.

(8) To borrow money from any available source for any of the purposes of the authority, and in evidence of the money so borrowed, to issue negotiable notes, bonds and certificates of indebtedness; to provide for the payment of such obligations by pledge of all or any of its income, revenues and receipts, and to make and execute mortgages to further secure such obligations.

(9) Repealed by Acts 2016, No. 577, §3.

(10) To construct, acquire, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, repair, operate, lease, as lessor or lessee, or to enter into contracts for the management and operation of hospitals, sanitariums, clinics, laboratories, or any other facility, building, or structure of the primary or participating institutions in the primary service area which may be of use or benefit in the teaching, training, or practice of medical science and the treatment of human ailments, or for such other facilities as the authority shall find useful in the study of, research in, or treatment of illnesses or infirmities. The authority may construct, acquire, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, repair, operate, lease, as lessor or lessee, or enter into contracts for the management and operation of support facilities for primary or participating institutions in the primary service area that are useful, necessary, or convenient for the orderly conduct of such institutions, including but not limited to: parking facilities, ambulatory care facilities, office buildings for physicians or dealers in medical accessories, dormitories, homes or residences for the medical profession, including interns, nurses, students or other officers or employees of the primary or participating institutions, or for the use of relatives or visitors of patients in the hospitals or other institutions within the primary service area. The authority may finance, acquire property for and plan and acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate or improve facilities for, and provide and operate, central services and shared facilities for the common use of the primary and participating institutions. The authority may, at its option, rent, lease, or sell the use of these facilities or services, or provide them at no cost. The authority may not acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, or develop any of the facilities herein authorized except at the request of any one of the primary or participating institutions and, in the case of primary institutions, only if the authority has determined, after a public hearing held thereon, that there is a public need and necessity for the proposed facilities.

(11) To fix and revise from time to time and charge and collect rates, rents, fees and charges for the use of and for the services furnished or to be furnished by a project of the authority or any portion thereof, and to contract with any other person, partnership, association or corporation or other body, public or private in respect thereto.

(12) To charge to and apportion among the primary and participating institutions, in such manner as it may determine, administrative costs and expenses incurred by the authority in the exercise of the powers and duties conferred by this Act in connection with those projects involving such primary and participating institutions.

Added by Acts 1968, No. 112, §5, emerg. eff. July 17, 1968, at 11:40 A.M. Amended by Acts 1975, Ex.Sess., No. 24, §1, eff. Jan. 28, 1975; Acts 1980, No. 759, §2, eff. July 31, 1980; Acts 2016, No. 577, §§1, 3.