Section 10-A. (A)  Conservation Fund.  Effective July 1, 1988, there shall be established in the state treasury, as a special fund, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation Fund, hereinafter referred to as the Conservation 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 as required by Article VII, Section 9(B) of this constitution, the treasurer shall pay into the Conservation Fund all of the following, except as provided in Article VII, Section 9(A), and except for the amount provided in La. Rev. Stat. 56:10(B)(1)(a) as that provision existed on the effective date of this Section:

(1)  All revenue from the types and classes of fees, licenses, permits, royalties, or other revenue paid into the Conservation Fund as provided by law on the effective date of this Section.  Such revenue shall be deposited in the Conservation Fund even if the names of such fees, licenses, permits, or other revenues are changed.

Any increase in the amount charged for such fees, licenses, permits, royalties, and other revenue, or any new fee, license, permit, royalty, or other revenue, enacted by the legislature after the effective date of this Section, shall be irrevocably dedicated and deposited in the Conservation Fund unless the legislature enacts a law specifically appropriating or dedicating such revenue to another fund or purpose.

(2)  The balance remaining on June 30, 1988 in the Conservation Fund established pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 56:10.

(3)  All funds or revenues which may be donated expressly to the Conservation Fund.

(B)  The monies in the Conservation Fund shall be appropriated by the legislature to the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, or its successor, and shall be used solely for the programs and purposes of conservation, protection, preservation, management, and replenishment of the state’s natural resources and wildlife, including use for land acquisition or for federal matching fund programs which promote such purposes, and for the operation and administration of the Department and the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, or their successors.

(C)  All unexpended and unencumbered monies in the Conservation Fund at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the fund.  The monies in the fund shall be invested by the treasurer in the manner provided by law.  All interest earned on monies invested by the treasurer shall be deposited in the fund.  The treasurer shall prepare and submit to the department on a quarterly basis a printed report showing the amount of money contained in the fund from all sources.

Added by Acts 1987, No. 946, §1, approved Nov. 21, 1987, eff. Dec. 23, 1987.