PART IV. REGULATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES

SUBPART A. SURRENDER TO PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

OF POWER TO REGULATE MUNICIPAL AND PARISH UTILITIES

§4491. Election required; petition for election

Any town, city, or parish exercising powers of supervision, regulation, and control over any local public utility, desiring to surrender these powers to the Louisiana Public Service Commission may submit the question of surrendering these powers to the qualified electors of the town, city, or parish, either at a general election, or at a special election held therein. The question may be so submitted, either in pursuance of

(1) an ordinance adopted by a majority vote of all of the members of the governing body, declaring that the public interest requires the submission of it, and that it is the intention of the governing body to submit the question to a vote of the qualified electors of the town, city, or parish, or

(2) a petition of ten per cent of the qualified electors of the town, city, or parish. No electors residing outside of the limits of the town or city, where the services of the public utility is rendered, shall be qualified to sign a petition for the submission of the question to surrender or retain the powers of control over the public utility when the utility is confined to the corporate limits of a city or town. The petition shall be filed with the clerk of the governing body, and within ten days from the filing of the petition the clerk shall report to the governing body whether the petition is signed by the requisite number of qualified electors. The ten per cent of the qualified electors whose signatures are required to the petition shall be computed upon the total number of the votes cast in the town, city, or parish for all of the candidates for governor in the last preceding general election, at which a governor was elected. If the certificate of the clerk shows the petition to be insufficient it may be amended by filing a supplemental petition within ten days from the date of the clerk's certificate and, within ten days from the filing of the supplemental petition the clerk shall make a like examination and a like certificate as to the result of his examination using in the second computation all of the names signed to the original and to the supplemental petition. Should the original and supplemental petition not contain the requisite number of signatures, it shall be filed by the clerk as a public record without prejudice to the filing of a new petition.