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2024 Regular Session
SENATE BILL NO. 119
BY SENATOR MILLER
TAX/AD VALOREM. Constitutional amendment that provides relative to tax sales. (2/3-
CA13s1(A))
1 A JOINT RESOLUTION
2 Proposing to amend Article VII, Section 25 of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to ad
3 valorem tax; to provide for the administration of tax sales of immovable property;
4 to provide for the postponement of taxes under certain circumstances; and to specify
5 an election for submission of the proposition to electors and provide a ballot
6 proposition.
7 Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members
8 elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state, for
9 their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Article VII,
10 Section 25 of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows:
11 ยง25. Tax Sales Administration
12 Section 25.(A) Tax Sales Immovables. (1) There shall be no forfeiture of
13 property for nonpayment of taxes. However, the assessment of ad valorem taxes
14 and other impositions on immovable property shall constitute a lien and
15 privilege on the property assessed in favor of the political subdivision to which
16 taxes and other impositions are owed. The legislature shall provide, by law, for
17 the efficient administration of tax sales, which shall include at a minimum:
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1 (a) Imposition of interest on the delinquent taxes and other impositions
2 not to exceed one percent per month on a noncompounding basis.
3 (b) Imposition of penalty not to exceed five percent of the delinquent
4 taxes and other impositions.
5 (c) A period of time during which the lien cannot be enforced.
6 (d) A procedure for claiming the excess proceeds from the sale of the
7 property, as a result of the enforcement of the lien.
8 (2) The legislature may, by law, provide authority to the tax collector to
9 waive penalties for good cause.
10 at the expiration of the year in which the taxes are due, the collector, without
11 suit, and after giving notice to the delinquent in the manner provided by law, shall
12 advertise for sale the property on which the taxes are due. The advertisement shall
13 be published in the official journal of the parish or municipality, or, if there is no
14 official journal, as provided by law for sheriffs' sales, in the manner provided for
15 judicial sales. On the day of sale, the collector shall sell the portion of the property
16 which the debtor points out. If the debtor does not point out sufficient property, the
17 collector shall sell immediately the least quantity of property which any bidder will
18 buy for the amount of the taxes, interest, and costs. The sale shall be without
19 appraisement. A tax deed by a tax collector shall be prima facie evidence that a valid
20 sale was made.
21 (2) If property located in a municipality with a population of more than four
22 hundred fifty thousand persons as of the most recent federal decennial census fails
23 to sell for the minimum required bid in the tax sale, the collector may offer the
24 property for sale at a subsequent sale with no minimum required bid. The proceeds
25 of the sale shall be applied to the taxes, interest, and costs due on the property, and
26 any remaining deficiency shall be eliminated from the tax rolls.
27 (B) Redemption. (1) The property sold shall be redeemable for three years
28 after the date of recordation of the tax sale, by paying the price given, including
29 costs, five percent penalty thereon, and interest at the rate of one percent per month
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1 until redemption.
2 (2) In the city of New Orleans, when such property sold is residential or
3 commercial property which is abandoned property as defined by R.S. 33:4720.12(1)
4 or blighted property as defined by Act 155 of the 1984 Regular Session, it shall be
5 redeemable for eighteen months after the date of recordation of the tax sale by
6 payment in accordance with Subparagraph (1) of this Paragraph.
7 (3) In any parish other than Orleans, when such property sold is vacant
8 residential or commercial property which has been declared blighted, as defined by
9 R.S. 33:1374(B)(1) on January 1, 2013, or abandoned, as defined by R.S.
10 33:4720.59(D)(2) on January 1, 2013, it shall be redeemable for eighteen months
11 after the date of recordation of the tax sale by payment in accordance with
12 Subparagraph (1) of this Paragraph.
13 (C) Annulment. No sale of property for taxes shall be set aside for any cause,
14 except on proof of payment of the taxes prior to the date of the sale, unless the
15 proceeding to annul is instituted within six months after service of notice of sale. A
16 notice of sale shall not be served until the final day for redemption has ended. It must
17 be served within five years after the date of the recordation of the tax deed if no
18 notice is given. The fact that taxes were paid on a part of the property sold prior to
19 the sale thereof, or that a part of the property was not subject to taxation, shall not
20 be cause for annulling the sale of any part thereof on which the taxes for which it
21 was sold were due and unpaid. No judgment annulling a tax sale shall have effect
22 until the price and all taxes and costs are paid, and until ten percent per annum
23 interest on the amount of the price and taxes paid from date of respective payments
24 are paid to the purchaser; however, this shall not apply to sales annulled because the
25 taxes were paid prior to the date of sale.
26 (D) Quieting Tax Title. The manner of notice and form of proceeding to quiet
27 tax titles shall be provided by law.
28 (E)(B) Movables; Tax Sales. When taxes on movables are delinquent, the tax
29 collector shall seize and sell sufficient movable property of the delinquent taxpayer
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1 to pay the tax, whether or not the property seized is the property which was assessed.
2 Sale of the property shall be at public auction, without appraisement, after ten days
3 advertisement, published within ten days after date of seizure. It shall be absolute
4 and without redemption.
5 If the tax collector can find no corporeal movables of the delinquent to seize,
6 he may levy on incorporeal rights, by notifying the debtor thereof, or he may proceed
7 by summary rule in the courts to compel the delinquent to deliver for sale property
8 in his possession or under his control.
9 (F)(C) Postponement of Taxes. The legislature may postpone the payment
10 of taxes, but only in cases of an emergency declared by the governor or a parish
11 president pursuant to the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency
12 Assistance and Disaster Act, overflow, general conflagration, general crop
13 destruction, or other public calamity, and may provide for the levying, assessing, and
14 collecting of such postponed taxes. In such case, the legislature may authorize the
15 borrowing of money by the state on its faith and credit, by bond issue or otherwise,
16 and may levy taxes, or apply taxes already levied and not appropriated, to secure
17 payment thereof, in order to create a fund from which loans may be made through
18 the Interim Emergency Board to the governing authority of the parish where the
19 calamity occurs taxes are postponed. The money loaned shall be applied to and
20 shall not exceed the deficiency in revenue of the parish or a political subdivision
21 therein or of which the parish is a part, caused by postponement of taxes. No loan
22 shall be made to a parish governing authority without the approval of the Interim
23 Emergency Board.
24 Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to
25 the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 5,
26 2024.
27 Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at said election
28 there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted
29 to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as
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1 follows:
2 Do you support an amendment to eliminate mandatory tax sales for
3 nonpayment of property taxes and instead require the legislature to provide for such
4 procedures by law; to limit the amount of penalty and interest on delinquent property
5 taxes; and to provide for the postponement of property tax payments under certain
6 circumstances?
7 (Amends Article VII, Section 25)
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Danielle Clapinski.
DIGEST
SB 119 Engrossed 2024 Regular Session Miller
Present Constitution does not allow the forfeiture of property for nonpayment of taxes.
However, when the year in which taxes are due expires, the collector is required after giving
notice of delinquency to the taxpayer and without suit to advertise the property on which the
taxes are due for sale. Requires advertisement to be published in the official journal of the
parish or municipality or as provided by law for sheriff's sales.
Proposed Constitution repeals present constitution provisions and requires the legislature to
provide by law for the efficient administration of tax sales including notice provisions that
satisfy due process requirements.
Present Constitution provides that property sold in a tax sale shall be redeemable for three
years after the date of recordation of the tax sale, by paying the price given, including costs,
5% penalty thereon, and interest at the rate of 1% per month until redemption.
Proposed Constitution repeals present constitution provisions and requires the legislature to
provide by law for the efficient administration of tax sales including provisions related to
a redemptive period, imposition of interest not to exceed 1% per month on a non-
compounding basis, imposition of penalty not to exceed 5%, a time period that liens cannot
be enforced, and a procedure for claiming excess proceeds from the sale of property as a
result of the enforcement of a lien.
Proposed law allows the legislature, by law, to give authority to tax collectors to waive
penalties for good cause.
Present Constitution provides that no sale of property for taxes shall be set aside for any
cause, except on proof of payment of the taxes prior to the date of the sale, unless the
proceeding to annul is instituted within six months after service of notice of sale. A notice
of sale shall not be served until the final day for redemption has ended. It must be served
within five years after the date of the recordation of the tax deed if no notice is given.
Proposed Constitution repeals present constitution provisions.
Present Constitution provides that the manner of notice and form of proceeding to quiet tax
titles shall be provided by law.
Proposed Constitution repeals present constitution provisions.
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Present Constitution authorizes the legislature to postpone the payment of taxes only in cases
of overflow, general conflagation, general crop destruction and other public calamity.
Proposed Constitution authorizes the legislature to postpone the payment of taxes only in
cases of an emergency declared by the governor or a parish president pursuant to the
Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act.
Specifies submission of the amendment to the voters at the statewide election to be held on
November 5, 2024.
(Amends Const. Art. VII, Sec. 25)
Summary of Amendments Adopted by Senate
Committee Amendments Proposed by Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal
Affairs to the original bill
1. Changes the name of Section 25 from "Tax Sales" to "Tax Administration".
2. Provides additional minimum requirements to be provided by the legislature
for the administration of tax sales, including provisions related to when liens
cannot be enforced and procedures for claiming excess proceeds from the
property sale after enforcement of a lien.
3. Allows the legislature to provide authority to tax collectors to waive penalties
for good cause.
4. Makes technical changes.
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