§650. Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund

A.(1) Subject to the exception contained in Article VII, Section 9(A) of the Constitution of Louisiana, all funds collected by the commission under the provisions of this Part shall be credited to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund. Out of the funds remaining in the Bond Security and Redemption Fund after a sufficient amount is allocated from that fund to pay all obligations secured by the full faith and credit of the state which become due and payable within any fiscal year, the treasurer shall deposit as provided in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, an amount equal to the revenues collected under the provisions of this Part. The funds credited to the Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund shall be expended as provided in this Section.

(2)(a) Of the revenues received from the issuance of each lifetime license other than a senior lifetime license, one hundred dollars shall be credited to the Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund, and the remaining funds shall be credited to the Conservation Fund to be used for the purpose of administering and enforcing the provisions of this Chapter or for such other purposes as may be determined by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, in accordance with requirements of the hunting and fishing or other special license fees that would have been required for the hunting and fishing privileges covered by the provisions of R.S. 56:649.1, 649.2, 649.3, or 649.4.

(b) Of the revenues received from the issuance of each senior lifetime combination license, five dollars shall be credited to the Conservation Fund, and the remaining revenues shall be credited to the Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund.

(c) Of the revenues received from the additional gear license fees levied in R.S. 56:649.3(B), one-tenth shall be deposited to the Conservation Fund to be used by the department for its fiscal operations. The remaining nine-tenths of the revenues collected shall be deposited to the Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund.

B.(1) The Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund is hereby established as a public trust fund, the principal of which shall be invested at interest in perpetuity and shall not be expended. The state treasurer shall, on a monthly basis, credit the Conservation Fund with all interest revenues generated by investment of the principal of the Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund.

(2) The state treasurer shall credit to the Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund such additional funds as are received from private contributions, grants, and donations made to the Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund.

C. The state treasurer shall invest the principal and the undistributed return on the principal deposited in the Lifetime License Endowment Trust Fund for the purpose of achieving perpetual financing of said fund. Such investments may include, among others authorized by law the following:

(1) Equity investments in stocks, common and preferred, or corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, or quoted on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations System, provided that the total investment in such securities at any one time shall not exceed thirty-five percent of the market value of all funds held by the fund. The treasurer may hire, on a contract basis, investment managers or consultants as deemed appropriate to provide for the equity investments of the fund. Such contracts shall be on a fee, together with minimum exchange fee, basis or on a commission basis only, with payment for such fees being appropriated from the fund.

(2) Direct general obligations of, or obligations on, which the timely payment of the principal and interest is unconditionally guaranteed by the United States of America.

(3) Bonds, debentures, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness issued by any of the following agencies of the United States government: Government National Mortgage Association; Rural Development Administration; Export-Import Bank of the United States; Federal National Mortgage Association; Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; Federal Home Loan Bank; and Student Loan Marketing Association.

(4) Bonds, debentures, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness issued by any of the following agencies of the United States government, or any other like governmental or government-sponsored agencies which are hereafter created, including the Bank of Cooperatives, Federal Financing Bank, Small Business Administration, and Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

(5) Investment grade commercial paper, investment grade corporate bonds, and money market funds consisting solely of securities otherwise eligible for investment by the treasurer pursuant to this Section.

Acts 1991, No. 184, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 1992, No. 859, §1, eff. July 1, 1992; Acts 2004, No. 835, §1, eff. July 12, 2004; Acts 2005, No. 206, §1; Acts 2011, No. 375, §1, eff. July 1, 2011.