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A.  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any combination of contiguous parishes or separate municipalities, may, by ordinance or ordinances, form and determine the boundaries of a local or regional economic development district,which district shall consist of the entirety of the participating parishes and municipalities, as a body politic and political subdivision of the state as defined in Article VI, Section 44(2) of the Constitution of Louisiana.  At least thirty days prior to the enactment of an ordinance to create a district pursuant to this Section, the governing authority of each participating parish and municipality shall conduct a public hearing on the proposed ordinance.  At least ten days prior to such hearing, the governing authority of each participating parish and municipality shall publish notice of such hearing in the official journal of the respective parish or municipality.  The parish, municipality, or combination thereof shall have the authority to dissolve the district by ordinance or ordinances which shall set forth the manner of disposition of all assets and liabilities of the district.  However, in no event shall any district be created as part of this Chapter whereby the boundaries of such district represent less than an entire municipality.  Pursuant to Article VI, Sections 19 and 20 of the Constitution of Louisiana, the district, acting through its board of commissioners, and the governing authority of such district, is hereby granted all of the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities accorded by law and the Constitution of Louisiana to political subdivisions of the state, including but not limited to the power of taxation, the power to incur debt, and all the powers set forth in this Chapter, subject to the limitations hereinafter provided.  Should a municipality form a district, the parish in which it is located may only include such municipal territory in a district it forms with the permission of the municipality.  A multiparish district may include participation by any municipality within any parish of such multiparish district.  The district need not use the term “economic development district” in its name.  No district created pursuant to this Chapter shall have any authority or power to expropriate.  Nothing in this Chapter shall permit the districts to impose any kind of fee, rule, or regulation which governs or affects the use of the navigable waterways of Louisiana and, further, nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as requiring deep water ports or other port authorities or commissions to secure a cooperative agreement from a district or other port authority or commission when such deep water port or other port authority or commission is carrying out its powers and functions, regardless of where such powers and functions are exercised.  Further, nothing in this Chapter shall adversely affect the authority of any constitutionally created higher education management board, nor shall any district created pursuant to this Chapter regulate any medical facility or higher education facility under the control of a constitutionally created higher education management board.

B.  Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary in this Chapter, no district created pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter shall have any right, power, authority, privilege, or immunity unless and until such district has been approved by a vote of the people within each parish and municipality included within the boundaries of such district.  Any such district created by a vote of the people shall not seek to create or impose a tax during the same election that created the district.

Acts 2006, No. 839, §1, eff. July 5, 2006.