CHAPTER 6-E. NEIGHBORHOOD CRIME PREVENTION

AND SECURITY DISTRICT ELECTIONS

§1300.31. Petition for neighborhood crime prevention and security district and parcel fee

A. Whenever the creation of a neighborhood crime prevention and security district and approval of a parcel fee for such district is proposed as provided for in R.S. 33:9100.21, the board of directors of the homeowners' association or associations of the subdivision or subdivisions which are to compose the district shall adopt a resolution proposing the district and parcel fee addressed to the governing authority of the municipality, if the subdivision or subdivisions are located within a municipality, or the governing authority of the parish if the subdivision or subdivisions are not located within a municipality, hereinafter "the appropriate local governing authority". The resolution shall state all of the following:

(1) The name of the district proposed to be created and its proposed boundaries.

(2) The purpose for which the district is to be formed, including the amount of any parcel fee proposed to be levied on parcels within the district, a definition of the parcels upon which it will be levied, including whether the fee will be levied on all parcels located within the district, or on only improved parcels, the term of the fee, any possible renewal of the fee at the end of such term, and the purposes for which the fee proceeds may be expended.

(3) The composition of the board of commissioners which will govern the district.

(4) A reference to R.S. 33:9100.21 and this Section.

(5) A request that the appropriate local governing authority authorize the collection of signatures within the subdivision or subdivisions comprising the proposed district for a petition requesting the governing authority to call an election to approve the district and parcel fee and, if such petition is signed by not less than thirty percent of the number of the total electors of such subdivision or subdivisions, that the appropriate local governing authority then may adopt a resolution ordering an election for the purpose of creating the district and approving the levy of the parcel fee.

(6) A designation of the chairman to act for the signers of the petition in all matters, and a vice chairman to act on order of the chairman or in case of the death, disability, absence, or resignation of the chairman, including their full names and residence addresses, each of whom shall be a qualified voter in the subdivision or subdivisions for which the district is proposed to be created.

(7) A list of the precincts included within the boundaries of the district and, in the case of a precinct not entirely within the district, a description of the part of the precinct that is within the district. Prior to adoption of the resolution by the association or associations, the association or associations shall submit a description of the boundaries of the proposed district to the registrar of voters for the parish and the registrar shall prepare a precinct list as required by this Paragraph to be included in the resolution.

B.(1) Upon the adoption of a resolution by the appropriate local governing authority authorizing the collection of signatures for such a petition within such area, a petition may be circulated which requests that an election be called and held within the area comprising the proposed district to authorize creation of the district and the levy of the parcel fee.

(2)(a) The secretary of state shall provide a form approved by the attorney general to be used for the petition to request an election to authorize the creation of a neighborhood crime prevention and security district and the levy of a parcel fee for such district. The form shall describe all of the information set forth in Paragraphs (A)(1), (2), and (3) of this Section.

(b) Such form shall be in conformity with the provisions of this Chapter and Chapters 6-A and 6-B of this Title. All such petitions shall be on an approved form or on a form which contains the same information as required by the approved form and any petition not on such a form shall be invalid.

C. All signatures on such petitions shall be handwritten. The appropriate local governing authority shall have the authority to call an election as provided in R.S. 18:1300.33 only if the petition is signed by a number of the electors of the subdivision or subdivisions proposing to create the district as will in number equal not less than thirty percent of the number of the total electors of such voting area wherein and for which an election is petitioned.

D.(1) Prior to the entering of any signatures on a petition, the person designated to represent the petitioners shall file with the appropriate local governing authority as provided for in Subsection A of this Section a copy of the petition which will be used, and upon receipt of the petition, the fact and the date of filing with the governing authority shall be endorsed thereon. A copy shall be transmitted by such governing authority to the secretary of state and to the registrar of voters for the parish in which the election is to be held. The chairman shall describe on the petition the subdivision or subdivisions within the municipality or parish in which the election is to be held. The petition shall be deemed filed when the petition is either:

(a) Received in the office of the appropriate local governing authority.

(b) Postmarked by the United States Postal Service, if subsequently received in the office of the appropriate local governing authority.

(c) Receipted on a return receipt form, if subsequently received by the office of the appropriate local governing authority.

(2) The signed and dated petition shall be submitted to the appropriate local governing authority and to the registrar of voters for the parish not later than one hundred eighty days after the day on which the copy of the petition was filed with the appropriate local governing authority. If the final day for submitting the signed and dated petition falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline for filing such petition shall be on the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

(3) The chairman shall file notice with the appropriate local governing authority and the registrar on the third day before the petition is submitted to them that he will submit the petition and the date of such submission, unless such submission is made within three days prior to the expiration of the period for submitting such petition. Such notice of submission shall be a public record. If the notice filed with the appropriate local governing authority and the registrar on the third day before the petition is submitted includes a date for submitting the signed and dated petition which falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or other legal holiday, the appropriate local governing authority shall so inform the chairman and the registrar and advise them of the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or other legal holiday and on which the petition is to be submitted.

E.(1) Each elector, at the time of signing the petition, shall enter his address and the date on which he signed beside or underneath his signature; however, if a person is unable to write, such incapacitated person shall affix his mark to the petition, and the person circulating the petition shall affix the name and address of such incapacitated person, as well as the date on which such incapacitated person affixed his mark to the petition, in the presence of two witnesses who shall also sign their names as witnesses to the mark and date their signatures.

(2) In addition, each petition shall be in compliance with the provisions of R.S. 18:3.

F. In determining the number of qualified electors who signed the petition in any subdivision or subdivisions comprising a proposed district, the registrar of voters shall not count any signature which is undated or bears a date prior to the date on which the copy of the petition initially was filed with the appropriate local governing authority or after the date of the submission of the petition to the appropriate local governing authority, except as provided for in R.S. 18:1300.32(B). The registrar shall not receive or certify a petition submitted to him for certification unless it is submitted to him timely.

Acts 2008, No. 930, §1, eff. July 15, 2008.