The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part of the
legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
Chabert (SB 452)
Proposed law provides additional powers, duties, authorities, and functions for statutorily created
fresh water districts which include more than one parish.
Defines "waterway" as the navigable bayou or river, or portion thereof, located within the
geographical boundaries of the district.
Provides that a district shall have jurisdiction to regulate activity and have its penal ordinances
enforced on all property along the waterway 500 feet in each direction perpendicular to the center
line of the waterway within the district.
Provides that the ability of a district to be sued shall not constitute a waiver of the governmental
immunity to which the district is entitled.
Provides that the board of commissioners may effectuate a beautification program of the area
within its jurisdiction, particularly but not limited to the banks of the waterway, including the
necessary police power and authority to adopt ordinances setting forth penalties for violation
thereof in connection with such program. Provides that "beautification" shall mean any method,
procedure, or program which has the effect of creating more pleasant surroundings.
Provides that in order to accomplish the purposes of the district, the board may make and enforce
such rules, regulations, and ordinances, it shall deem necessary and advisable:
(1) To protect and preserve the works, improvements and properties owned and controlled by
the district, prescribe the manner of their use by persons and entities, and preserve order
within and adjacent thereto.
(2) To protect and preserve the water of the waterway from any substance or act which would
render the water unfit for the objectives and purposes of the district.
(3)(a)To protect and preserve from pollution the water of the waterway; and for
purposes of proposed law, the following shall be considered pollution:
(i)"Ashes" includes the solid residue resulting from the combustion of all
fuels used for heating, cooking, and the production of power in any public
or private establishment, institution, or residence.
(ii)"Garbage" includes all putrescible waste matter except sewage and
recognizable industrial byproducts and includes putrescible vegetable matter, animal offal, and animal carcasses.
(iii)"Refuse" includes garbage, rubbish, ashes, animal and vegetable waste
from animal quarters, and all other waste matter, except sewage, from any
public or private establishment, institution, or residence.
(iv)"Rubbish" includes all nonputrescible waste matter, except ashes, from
any public or private establishment, institution, or residence.
(v)"Untreated sewage" includes animal feces and urine as well as any
material contaminated by animal body discharges and waste feed stuff
which has not been subjected to proper primary treatment.
(viAny other substance in concentrations which tend to degrade the chemical,
physical, biological, or radiological integrity of the waters of the
waterway.
(b)Any action by the board regarding untreated sewage shall be subject to review by
the courts.
(4)To protect and prohibit any person, company, or governmental entity from abandoning
any boat, barge, scow, raft, or other marine vessel upon or in the waterway or voluntarily
or carelessly sinking or allowing to be sunk any vessel in the waterway or failing to
remove any sunken vessel from the waterway after having been requested to do so in
writing.
(5) To prohibit any person or entity from erecting, locating, constructing, or using any
building or structures within the district where same may threaten the objectives and
purposes of the district until a permit has been approved by the board.
(6)(a) To prohibit any person from knowingly or willfully emptying or draining or
permitting to be drained from any pump, reservoir, well or oil field into the waterway any
oil, salt water, or other noxious, toxic, hazardous, or poisonous gas, liquid, or substance
which would render the water of the waterway unfit for the objectives and purposes of the
district or for human consumption or would destroy aquatic and fish life in the waterway.
(b)Each and every day that oil, salt water, or other substances are permitted to empty,
drain or flow into the waterway shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.
(7) To acquire by purchase, donation, lease, or otherwise and to hold and use any real,
personal, or mixed property, whether tangible or intangible, or any interest therein
necessary or desirable for carrying out the objectives and purposes of the district, and to
sell, lease, transfer, and convey any property or interest therein at any time acquired by it.
(8)To expropriate in the same manner as levee districts pursuant to R.S. 38:351 et seq. (9) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary and in particular R.S. 34:851.27,
upon declaration of an emergency by the board that the size and speed of boats traveling
through the waterway needs to be regulated to protect the integrity of the banks of the
waterway due to low water levels or other event causing the banks to be in peril of
erosion or instability, to implement and enforce, by penal ordinance, a "no wake zone" as
that term is commonly understood in marine terminology and to limit the size of vessels
permitted to travel on certain areas of the waterway until such time as the emergency has
passed. This power is not intended to supersede or otherwise interfere with the authority
of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries except during emergencies declared by the
board.
(10) To exercise all powers necessary for carrying out the objectives and purposes of the
district by enacting ordinances or otherwise and adopting rules and regulations for the
conduct, management, and control of its operations and functions, the structures and other
facilities within its jurisdiction or under its administration, and for the government
thereof, which the board may find to be necessary or proper in the exercise of the powers
now conferred upon it by the constitution and statutes of the state, and shall, from time to
time, enlarge, modify or change such rules and regulations, including but without limiting
the generality of the foregoing, the following:
(a) For the safety and efficiency of its operations.
(b) To protect property, life, and the welfare of its employees and the public.
(c) To control, use, and protect its real property and equipment and other facilities
and improvements and appurtenances thereto, within its jurisdiction or under its
administration.
(d) To control, regulate, and protect the channel and banks of the waterway from
erosion, decay, or destruction.
(e) To control and regulate the pumping of or flowing of water into the waterway
from adjacent or nearby canals, drainage systems, bayous, ditches, streams,
tributaries, or other sources which empty or are pumped into the waterway.
Provides that all penal ordinances contemplated by proposed law enacted by the board shall be
enforceable by any local law enforcement authority having jurisdiction over the area and by the
La. State Police and shall be prosecuted by the district attorney in the parish where the offense
occurred. Provides that any ordinance may contain penalties, including a fine, not to exceed $500
or imprisonment not to exceed six months, or both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the
court. Provides that the district court with criminal jurisdiction in the parish where the offense
occurred shall have jurisdiction over the trial and punishment of all violations of board
ordinances.
Effective August 1, 2014. (Adds R.S. 38:3086.31-3086.36)