A. The legislature shall appropriate to the office of elderly affairs, for distribution by the executive director of the office to the various voluntary parish councils on aging, funds sufficient to allocate to each parish council two dollars and fifty cents for each person sixty years or older who is a resident of the parish as shown by the latest official census estimate or one hundred thousand dollars, whichever is greater. The office of elderly affairs shall include funds in their annual budget request for increases in funding based on the number of elderly as estimated in the above census. Notwithstanding the foregoing, such total annual appropriation shall be for a minimum of six million nine hundred thousand dollars.

            B.(1) Funds appropriated by the legislature pursuant to Subsection A of this Section shall be distributed by the executive director of the office of elderly affairs and shall be allocated to each parish council in an amount equal to two dollars and fifty cents for each resident of the parish age sixty years or older, as shown by the latest official estimate approved by the United States Bureau of the Census, or one hundred thousand dollars, whichever is greater. The sums so allocated shall be distributed quarterly during the first thirty days of each quarter of the fiscal year. In appropriating funds pursuant to this Section, the legislature shall specifically provide for the allocation of funds to the respective parish councils in accordance with the provisions of this Section.

            (2) In the event of the temporary or permanent relocation of state residents age sixty or over due to a disaster, the executive director of the Office of Elderly Affairs may modify the distribution of money, subject to the approval of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

            C. The executive director of the office of elderly affairs shall distribute the funds appropriated pursuant to this Section and allocated to particular parish councils to each parish council which has filed its charter and its articles of incorporation with the bureau and with the secretary of state, provided such council is in compliance with all budgetary and fiscal requirements of law. Such funds shall be distributed in the amounts as provided by the legislature in accordance with this Section.

            D.(1) Funds appropriated pursuant to this Section shall not be in lieu of and shall not in any way replace any other funds appropriated or to be appropriated to or for the voluntary parish councils on aging, including those appropriated pursuant to Title III of the Older Americans Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3021 et seq., or other funds allocated pursuant to the Older Americans Act, and any other funds presently appropriated, allocated, or otherwise made available or funds hereafter appropriated, allocated, or otherwise made available for use by the voluntary parish councils on aging.

            (2) Except as provided in Paragraph (3) of this Subsection, the balance of any funds appropriated pursuant to this Section which are not allocated to a particular parish council pursuant to the formula provided in this Section shall be allocated to the office of elderly affairs, to be distributed quarterly and to be used for administrative costs and continuing education and training for the parish voluntary councils on aging.

            (3) The executive director may allocate funds not appropriated to a particular council on aging pursuant to the formula provided in this Section to one or more parish councils on aging if such parish receives an increase in Louisiana residents age sixty or over due to a disaster. Such allocation shall be subject to review and approval of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

            E. Each voluntary parish council on aging annually shall file with the office of elderly affairs a financial statement for the previous fiscal year of all receipts and disbursements of funds allocated pursuant to this Section, such statement to be filed no later than thirty days after the close of each fiscal year.

            F. For the purposes of this Section, “disaster” means a disaster declared by the governor by executive order or proclamation pursuant to the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act, La. Rev. Stat. 29:721 et seq.

            Added by Acts 1979, No. 735, §1, eff. July 20, 1979. Amended by Acts 1981, No. 696, §1, eff. July 20, 1981; Acts 1983, No. 434, §1; Acts 2006, No. 693, §1, eff. June 29, 2006; Acts 2007, No. 344, §1; Acts 2017, No. 203, §1, eff. July 1, 2017; Acts 2019, No. 127, §1.