R. S. 3031-Act 14, 1898 heretofore authorized by law to issue, in such sums and denominations as every Board may in its own case prescribe, but of not less than one hundred dollars each; said bonds to be drawn payable to bearer, to be signed by the president of the Board officially, and attested by the signature of the secretary and the seal of said Board, and to become due in fifty years, and to be payable at the option of said Board in forty years from the date of their issue, and to bear interest at a rate not to exceed 5 per cent, per annum from date of their issue; said interest to be evidenced by coupons attached to said bonds payable semi-annually at fiscal agency in New Orleans or the office of the State Treasurer.

[Bonds Issued Shall Be in Lieu of Outstanding Bonds.]

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, etc., That the intent of this act is that the Levee Districts shall have authority to issue bonds in lieu of the bonds heretofore authorized, not in addition thereto, but in carrying out the power to refund outstanding bonds into bonds under this act, the bonds under this act may be negotiated before the retirement of the outstanding bonds; the proceeds of the bonds thus negotiated to remain, however, in the State Treasury, as provided in Section 5 of this act.

[Refunding of Outstanding Bonds.]

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, etc., That the refunding of the outstanding bonds of said Levee District into the bonds authorized by this act may be effected either by a direct exchange of bonds or by a negotiation of the bonds authorized by the present act, and the application of the proceeds to the payment of redemption of said bonds now outstanding.

[Exchange of New for Old Bonds-Duties of State Treasurer and Auditor.]

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, etc., That the said direct exchange of bonds shall be effected by the State Treasurer, upon the warrant of the Auditor of the State, in pursuance of a resolution of the Levee Board, and the said Treasurer, immediately upon affecting said exchange, shall cancel by irremediably defacing the same, the bond, or bonds, received in exchange, and immediately draw up a proces verbal reciting the transaction, giving an exact description of the bonds exchanged, by the number, series, date, maturity, etc., and this proces verbal, made in triplicate, shall be by said Treasurer, one original thereof, kept in his office, one original transmitted to the Auditor of Public Accounts, to be there kept on file, and one original transmitted to the secretary of the Levee Board. The bonds thus received in exchange and cancelled by being defaced as aforesaid shall be immediately trans

R. S. 3031-Act 14, 1898

mitted by said Treasurer to the secretary of said Board to be by said. Board destroyed in open session, at the meeting of said Board next following the date of such transmission; and a proces verbal of said destruction, giving description of the bonds by numbers, series, denomination, etc., shall be entered upon the minutes of such meeting, and when the exchange has been finally completed, a general proces verbal of such destruction shall be signed officially by the president and secretary of the Board respectively and published in the official journal of the State, and a certified copy thereof filed with the Auditor of Public Accounts. Said Board shall fix the rate at which said bonds shall be exchanged, such rate not to be less than par.

[Sale of Bonds for Redemption of Those Outstanding-Disposition of Surplus.]

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, etc., That said bonds, when negotiated as authorized by Sec. 3 of this act, shall be issued to the purchaser, or purchasers, thereof by the Treasurer of the State, upon the warrant of the Auditor, and in pursuance of a resolution of said Board; and the purchase price shall be paid direct to the Treasurer of the State, and shall not be withdrawn from the Treasury of the State except upon the warrant of the Auditor, and in pursuance of a resolution of said Board and for the purpose of paying or redeeming, in whole or in part, the bonds of said Board now outstanding. Bonds thus paid or redeemed shall be disposed of in the same manner as is provided in Sec. 4 of this act for bonds received in exchange. Any surplus remaining on hand from the proceeds from the sale of bonds thus negotiated, shall, after redemption of the bonds now outstanding, be transferred to the general account of said Board.

[Sale of Bonds for Other Purposes-Disposition of Proceeds.]

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, etc., That bonds under this act not issued for the purpose of refunding outstanding bonds as aforesaid, shall be issued by the State Treasurer, upon the warrant of the State Auditor, in pursuance of a resolution of the Levee Board and the proceeds thereof shall be paid into the State Treasury to the general account of the Levee District.

[Annual Tax to Pay Interest.]

SEC. 7. Be it further enacted, etc., That for the purpose of paying the interest of said bonds, it shall be the duty of said Levee Boards to levy annually to an amount sufficient for that purpose, the taxes and local contributions which they have been heretofore authorized and empowered to levy, and which they may hereafter be authorized to levy and from the first money realized from said taxes and local contributions, it shall be the duty of the Treasurer of the State to set apart.

R. S. 3031-Act 14, 1898 annually the amount necessary to pay the said interest; that the money thus set apart shall not be diverted to any other purpose; that it shall be the duty of the Auditor, in issuing his warrant for the payment of any interest coupons, to punch twice in the centre each and every coupon so paid, and to paste said coupons so punched in a book or register to be kept by him for that purpose. Whenever the State shall have a fiscal agency in the city of New Orleans, the Board of Commissioners shall make the necessary arrangements through the State Treasurer to have said interest paid at said agency.

[Annual Tax to Create Sinking Fund for Principal of Bonds.]

SEC. 8. Be it further enacted, etc., That for the purpose of providing a sinking fund to meet the payment of the principal of the bonds issued under this act, it shall be the duty of the Levee Board, beginning ten years before the maturity of said bonds, to levy annually to an amount sufficient for that purpose, the taxes and local contributions which it had been heretofore authorized and empowered to levy and which they may be hereafter authorized to levy; and from the first monies realized from said taxes and local contributions, it shall be the duty of the State Treasurer, next after providing for the payment of the interest of said bonds, as aforesaid, to set apart annually, beginning ten years before the maturity of said bonds, an amount sufficient to pay ten per cent. of said bonds outstanding; and the money thus set apart shall not be diverted to any other purpose, except the purchase of outstanding bonds.

[Duty of State Auditor Where Levee Boards Fail to Levy Tax.]

SEC. 9. Be it further enacted, etc., That in case of the failure of the Levee Board to levy said taxes and local contributions, as provided for in Sections 7 and 8 of this act, or in case from any other cause said taxes and local contributions are not so levied, it shall be the duty of the State Auditor, or of whatever officer may at any time be charged with the functions of State Auditor to order the proper officers to extend said taxes upon the assessment rolls of the several parishes and parts of parishes composing the Levee Districts, and to order the proper officers of the said parishes and parts of parishes to collect the said taxes and local contributions to an amount sufficient to meet the purposes provided for by said Sections 7 and 8; and it shall be the duty of said officers to assess and collect said taxes and local contributions as so ordered; and, to that end, the said taxes and local contributions are now, once for all, hereby levied and ordered to be collected to an amount sufficient to provide, as aforesaid, for the payment of said. interest and the creation of said sinking fund; provided, that the present levy of said taxes and local contributions shall be operative.

R. S. 3031-Act 14, 1898

only in the case the said taxes and local contributions are not otherwise levied, either because of failure on the part of the said Board to perform the duty imposed upon it by Sections 7 and 8 of this act, or from any other cause.

[Jurisdiction Given Courts to Enforce Payment of Principal and Interest.] SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, etc., That in case, for any cause, it becomes necessary in order to enforce payment of the principal or interest of said bonds, it shall be lawful for any court of competent jurisdiction, at the joint or separate suit of any holder or holders of said bonds, to require the tax collectors of the respective parishes of the Levee District, under the direction and orders of said court, to proceed to levy and collect taxes and local contributions levied in Section 9 of this act, and to pay the amount so collected into the State Treasury; and the amount so paid shall not be used for any other purpose than to pay the interest and principal of said bonds.

[Act Declared a Contract, Not to be Modified.]

SEC. 11. Be it further enacted, etc., That this act, and the several aets of the General Assembly providing for the creation and government of said Levee Districts and their authority or power to levy and collect taxes and local contributions and to issue bonds shall not be repealed or modified to the detriment of the bonds authorized by this act; and this obligation not to repeal or modify said acts is declared to be binding on the State and to be part of the contract of said bonds.

[Mandamus Lies to Compel Action by Authorities.]

SEC. 12. Be it further enacted, etc., That the performance of the duties imposed by this act upon the said Boards and other officers of this State may be enforced by mandamus at the separate or joint suit of any holder or holders of said bonds, in case of failure on the part of said Boards to perform said duties.

[Intention of Act Not to Limit Existing Right to Issue, etc.]

SEC. 13. Be it further enacted, etc., That nothing in this act contained shall be construed as depriving the several Levee Districts of the right or power to issue their bonds in the manner and form heretofore authorized, if the Boards of Commissioners of said districts so prefer.

R. S. 3031-Acts

MEMBERS, ETC., OF LEVEE BOARDS NOT TO BE INTERESTED IN CONTRACTS.

Act 10, 1898, p. 9.

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION.

Whereas, It is the sense of the General Assembly that it is contrary to public policy, good morals, and the levee interests of the State, that members or officers or employees, directly or indirectly, of the various Levee Boards of the State should undertake, or be personally interested in any contract for the building or repair of any levee work in this State.

Therefore, be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring: That is the sense of the General Assembly that hereafter no Levee Commissioner, or officer or employees, directly or indirectly, should undertake, or become personally interested in any contract for the building or repair of any levee work in the State and that no levee, nor the Board of State Engineers, should let any contract to such members or officers, or employees, directly or indirectly, of any Board or Levee Commissioner in this State.

CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.

Act 10, 1882, p. 9.

AN ACT entitled An Act to define certain works of Public Improvements.

SECTION 1. That the construction and maintenance of public levees. throughout the State, shall constitute a part of the works of public improvements of the State.

Act 78, 1886, p. 119.

AN ACT to prescribe the manner in which the public levees are to be built in places where the line of levee crosses a bayou or slough, and to require the State Board of Engineers to observe the same in giving out contracts.

SECTION 1. That from and after the passage of this act, whenever it becomes necessary to build any public levee in this State and the line. of said levee shall cross any bayou or slough, the said levee shall be so constructed as to have a banquet or berme, against the rear base of said levee, at the crossing of said slough or bayou, which banquet or