Peterson (SB 237) Act No. 67
Prior law created the BioDistrict New Orleans, governed by a board of commissioners, to
facilitate public and private research functions relative to the biosciences within the territorial
jurisdiction of the district. Authorized the board, after publication of notice in the official
journal of the district and a public hearing, to designate one or more areas within or without
the boundaries of the district as a separate subdistrict or as an enlargement of the original
district and that provides that any subdistrict created outside the current district boundary
need not be contiguous to the district. Required that any territory outside the original
boundaries of the district that is to be included in the district or as a subdistrict be subject to
approval of the governing authority of the parish or municipality having jurisdiction over that
territory.
New law also authorizes the board to create a separate subdistrict by a reduction of the
original district and requires legislative approval for any subdistrict created outside the
original district boundaries instead of local approval.
Prior law authorized owners of land, whether or not the land is contiguous to the district, to
petition the board requesting that their land be included as an enlargement of the original
district or designated as a separate subdistrict. Authorized the board to include the land in the
original district or subdistrict. New law retains these provisions but provides that the land
owner may also petition to have his land excluded from the district or subdistrict.
Prior law prohibited the expansion or extension of the territorial jurisdiction or boundaries
of the district or the creation of a subdistrict that includes any area which is not entirely
contained within the New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area.
New law provides that district boundary or territorial jurisdiction shall not be expanded,
reduced, or extended and no subdistrict created that includes any area not entirely within the
New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area unless approved by the legislature.
New law provides that notwithstanding any provision new law the Downtown Development
District of the City of New Orleans and the BioDistrict New Orleans may exercise all their
authority within their boundaries regardless of any overlapping jurisdiction and may
undertake economic development projects within the original boundaries of the downtown
development district and the BioDistrict New Orleans.
Effective August 1, 2013.
(Amends R.S. 33:9039.68(B))