§1656. General powers

The authority shall have all powers necessary or convenient to accomplish the aforesaid purposes, including but not limited to the following:

(1) The powers, privileges, and immunities authorized by law for private corporations and for instrumentalities of government. The authority shall be domiciled as provided in Section 1654 and may sue or be sued in its corporate name. The board may adopt and use a common seal for the authority and change it at its pleasure.

(2) The power to appoint, select, and employ officers, agents, and employees, including engineering, architectural, and construction experts, fiscal agents and attorneys, to contract for the services of individuals or organizations not employed full time by the authority but who are engaged primarily in the rendition of personal services and not the sale of goods or merchandise, including but not limited to the services of attorneys, accountants, engineers, architects, consultants, and advisors, allowing them suitable compensation. Except as provided in Subsection N of Section 1655, all personnel of the authority shall be employed in accordance with the constitutional provisions and rules and regulations pertaining to the state classified service and full-time employees of the authority shall be eligible to participate in the State Employees' Retirement System.

(3) The power to acquire by lease as lessee, grant, gift, exchange, purchase or otherwise own, and use any franchise, servitude, real or personal property, tangible or intangible property, or any interest therein; and to sell, lease as lessor, transfer, or dispose thereof or exchange same for other property or rights which are useful for its purposes, provided, however, that the conveyance of such a franchise shall not result in competition with any private transit operator without consent of the affected local governing body, unless otherwise provided by law.

(4) The power to acquire by gift, purchase, lease as lessee, or otherwise, or to construct, improve, maintain, repair, operate, or administer any component parts of a mass transportation system, together as a system, or singly, or in groupings, as mass transportation projects, or to contract for the maintenance, operation, or administration thereof or to lease as lessor the same for maintenance, operation, or administration by private parties.

(5) The power to develop data, plans, and information and to develop and carry out mass transportation demonstration projects, including the development, testing, and demonstration of new facilities, equipment, techniques, and methods, and the improvement and utilization of transportation services and facilities, and any other means of developing, utilizing, or improving mass transportation in urban areas. Also, in other respects, the power to conduct engineering, financial and economic studies, to make plans, designs, and tests related to mass transportation projects. In connection therewith, the authority may enter in a reasonable manner upon any lands, waters, or premises for the purpose of making reasonable surveys, soundings, drillings, and examinations and such entries shall not be deemed a trespass except that the authority shall be liable for any actual and consequential damages resulting from such entries.

(6) The power to cooperate, participate, and coordinate with the federal government, or the state of Louisiana, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or any municipal or parish governing body within the regional area or any agency, instrumentality thereof, or the regional planning commission or any similar joint agency, in the execution of any studies, plans, or projects designed for the coordination of its mass transportation system with other transportation in the regional area and with any comprehensive planning and development of the regional area.

(7) The power to acquire property, both real and personal, or rights of easement therein, or franchises necessary or convenient for the purposes of the authority, by gifts, purchase, lease as lessee, or contract.

(8) The power to make and execute all contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the authority, including the power to contract for managerial and operating services.

(9) The power to enter into contracts with the state of Louisiana and any agency, instrumentality, or authority thereof and with any of the parish and municipal governments within the territorial limits of the area served or to be served by the authority, for public transportation services to be rendered by the authority or its mass transportation system, and for any other purposes incidental to the establishment and maintenance of its mass transportation system, or any part or project thereof, including the payment of funds to subsidize the operations of such system if it should ever be necessary to do so, and the usual facilities related thereto. However, such subsidy by the state of Louisiana shall never exceed twenty percent of the total cost of such mass transportation system.

(10) The power to contract with any public utility, railroad or transportation company for the joint use of property or rights, or for the establishment of through routes, joint fares, or transfer of passengers.

(11) The power to apply for and accept grants or other assistance from the federal government or from any source whatever, to act as agent for the federal government, and to enter into contracts, loans, leases, or other transactions with the federal government.

(12) The power to borrow money from private lenders, including but not limited to, institutional lenders, financial institutions, and individuals, or from the federal government, or to the extent otherwise authorized by law, from the state of Louisiana or any local government within the metropolitan area, in such amounts as may be necessary for the purposes of the authority and, in connection therewith to issue negotiable notes, bonds, refunding bonds, and other evidences of indebtedness or obligations of the authority, and to secure the payment thereof, or any part thereof, by conventional mortgages or by pledge, or both, of its revenues, rentals, taxes and receipts, and to make such agreements with the purchasers or holders thereof, or with others in connection therewith, whether issued or to be issued as the board may deem advisable. However, the authority shall have no power in any manner to pledge the property, credit, or taxing power of any local government, nor shall any of its obligations be deemed to be obligations of any local government, nor shall any local government be liable for the payment of principal or interest on such obligations.

(13) The power to fix, alter, charge, and collect fares, rates, rentals, and other charges for its facilities by zones or otherwise at reasonable rates to be determined exclusively by the board, subject to judicial review as hereinafter provided.

(14) The power to make agreements with the federal government, the state of Louisiana, any agency, instrumentality or political subdivision thereof, for payments to the authority in lieu of fares for the transportation of personnel or other persons for whom such department, agency, instrumentality, or political subdivisions desires such transportation.

(15) The power to operate visitor tolls and rental areas, to levy and collect charges, tolls, fees, head taxes, or use taxes, or all of the preceding, to grant permits for admission to or for the use of its facilities, and to issue licenses and permits for motor buses and other passenger vehicles for hire to operate upon specified routes located exclusively within a parish or parishes in which the authority is operating a transit system or between fixed terminals located within parish or parishes in which the authority is operating a transit system, and to promulgate regulations governing the operation of such motor buses and other passenger vehicles for hire upon specified routes or between fixed terminals, as set forth above, including regulations governing the rates the public is to be charged for such operations, regulations promoting the safety of such operations, and regulations establishing the criteria for the issuance or denial of permits to provide such services, which criteria may include provisions for the limitation of services or service providers. However the authority shall have no power to issue licenses or permits for, or to promulgate regulations for the operation of motor buses or other passenger vehicles for hire which are used exclusively to transport passengers to and from the New Orleans International Airport.

(16) The power to mortgage properties constructed or acquired by the authority, and to mortgage and pledge any lease or leases and the rents, income, and other advantages arising out of any lease or leases granted, assigned, or subleased by the authority.

(17) The authority may provide by contract with the fiscal agents of the local governments within its jurisdiction for the collection of any tax or taxes authorized by law.

(18) The power to provide for police and fire protection having jurisdiction over the facilities of the authority; however, the board may contract for such services with municipalities or parishes, or both, or with private enterprise within its jurisdiction.

(19) The power to develop, build, and operate a mass transportation system between facilities operated by the authority, provide concessions through lease or purchase, off-street parking, including the acquisition of existing transit facilities which private enterprise no longer desires to operate but whose continuation the authority deems necessary in the public interest, and other facilities for the comfort, safety, and convenience of transit passengers.

(20) The authority shall have no power or authority to operate taxicabs, or facilities designed exclusively for the transportation of property for hire, nor sightseeing limousines and buses, or school buses, nor shall it engage in other activities commonly regarded as private enterprise, except to develop a transit system, provide concessions, off-street parking and other facilities for the comfort, safety and convenience of transit passengers, and otherwise accomplish the purpose and policies expressed and contemplated in this Act.

(21) The power to provide by contract, service to parishes or municipalities within parishes not represented in the authority at the request of such a parish or municipality, provided said extension is deemed by the authority to be not in conflict with the overall master plan of the authority.

(22) The authority shall not have powers to construct or operate a bridge or bridges across the Mississippi River.

(23) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, including the provisions of R.S. 45:161 et seq., the authority created herein and any entity contracted to manage or operate the authority shall not be deemed a "person" as defined in R.S. 45:162 or a "common carrier" as defined in R.S. 45:162 nor shall the authority or any entity contracted to manage or operate the authority be construed or interpreted to be such. Additionally, the authority and any entity contracted to manage or operate the authority shall not be deemed to be a common carrier, or interpreted to be such by any court of this state in a suit for personal injury or property damage.

Added by Acts 1979, No. 439, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 1979; Acts 1984, No. 934, §1; Acts 1995, No. 735, §1; Acts 2010, No. 854, §1; Acts 2013, No. 273, §2, eff. July 1, 2013.