§1161.2. Crescent City Transition Fund

A. Upon the final payment on any public indebtedness issued by the Mississippi River Bridge Authority or the Crescent City Connection Division of the Department of Transportation and Development, all books, papers, records, actions, and other property and improvements thereon, both movable and immovable, heretofore owned, possessed, controlled, or used by the Mississippi River Bridge Authority or the Crescent City Connection Division of the Department of Transportation and Development in the exercise of functions of those bodies are hereby transferred to the department. All books, papers, and records transferred to the department pursuant to this Section or as a result of the Act originating as Senate Bill 599 of the 2012 Regular Legislative Session* shall be retained for a period of no less than five years following such transfer.

B. There is hereby created, as a special fund in the state treasury, the Crescent City Transition Fund, hereinafter referred to as the "fund". The source of monies for the fund shall be amounts paid to the Mississippi River Bridge Authority pursuant to Sections 4.21 and 12.1 of the Amended and Restated Indenture and Deed of Trust between the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development (Acting in the Name of and on Behalf of the Mississippi River Bridge Authority) and Bank One Trust Company, N.A., dated November 1, 2002, or funds possessed, controlled, or due to the Mississippi River Bridge Authority or the Crescent City Connection Division of the Department of Transportation and Development.

C. After compliance with the requirements of Article VII, Section 9(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund, an amount equal to that deposited into the state treasury from the foregoing sources shall be deposited in and credited to the fund. The monies in the fund shall be invested by the treasurer in the same manner as the state general fund, and interest earnings shall be deposited into the fund. All unexpended and unencumbered monies remaining in the fund at the end of each fiscal year shall remain in the fund.

D. Monies in the fund shall be appropriated as follows:

(a) The first four million dollars of monies deposited in the fund shall be appropriated for use by the Department of Transportation and Development, hereinafter referred to as the "department", for the purpose of capitalizing ferry service formerly operated by the Crescent City Connection Division in the Marine Trust Program. One million four hundred thousand dollars of such funds available for such ferry service shall be appropriated and available for ferry operation costs, such funds to be appropriated annually in the amount of seven hundred thousand dollars for the fiscal years beginning July 1, 2013, and July 1, 2014.

(b) An amount not to exceed twenty percent of the funds collected and deposited into the fund pursuant to the toll violation amnesty program required to be established pursuant to R.S. 47:7013.1(B) shall be appropriated to the department for its costs incurred to implement the program.

(c) The balance of the monies in the fund shall be appropriated to the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission for lighting of the eastbank and westbank approaches to the Crescent City Connection Bridge including General DeGaulle and the Westbank Expressway approach through ground level, improvements to ingress and egress points, lighting, maintenance, grass cutting, and landscaping of the Westbank Expressway and connecting arteries.

E. As used in this Section, the "Mississippi River Bridge Authority" shall mean the Mississippi River Bridge Authority originally created as a body politic and corporate of the state under the authority of Act No. 7 of 1952 and transferred to and incorporated within the Department of Transportation and Development under the Executive Reorganization Act of Louisiana, as amended, and called and operated as the Crescent City Connection Division of the Department of Transportation and Development.

Acts 2012, No. 866, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2013; Acts 2013, No. 274, §2, eff. June 13, 2013.

*Acts 2012, No. 866.