Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:101.9 – A. There is hereby established a statutorily dedicated fund account in the custody of the state treasurer to be known as the Fishermen’s Gear Compensation and Underwater Obstruction
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:101.9
- Account: means the Fishermen's Gear Compensation and Underwater Obstruction Removal Dedicated Fund Account. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:101.3
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Assistant secretary: means the assistant secretary of the office of conservation within the Department of Energy and Natural Resources or his authorized representatives. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:101.3
- Commercial fisherman: means any citizen of the state of Louisiana whose primary source of earnings is from the harvesting of living marine resources for commercial purposes. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:101.3
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- earnings: means the earnings derived solely by the personal efforts of the commercial fisherman, exclusive of the income of a spouse or of any community property interest in the income of a spouse. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:101.3
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Gas: means all natural gas, including casinghead gas, and all other hydrocarbons not defined as oil in Paragraph (7) of this Section. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
- Oil: means crude petroleum oil, and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well head in liquid form by ordinary production methods. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
- Owner: means the person, including operators and producers acting on behalf of the person, who has or had the right to drill into and to produce from a pool and to appropriate the production either for himself or for others. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
- Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources or his authorized representatives. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:101.3
- Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
- Underwater obstruction: means any obstacle, whether natural or manmade, which impedes normal navigation and commercial fishing on the navigable waters of the state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:101.3
A. There is hereby established a statutorily dedicated fund account in the custody of the state treasurer to be known as the Fishermen’s Gear Compensation and Underwater Obstruction Removal Dedicated Fund Account, hereafter referred to in this Section as the “account”, into which the state treasurer shall, each fiscal year, deposit the revenues received from the collection of the monies enumerated in Subsection C of this Section, after those revenues have been deposited in the Bond Security and Redemption 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 the obligations secured by the full faith and credit of the state that become due and payable within each fiscal year, the treasurer shall pay into the account an amount equal to the revenues generated as provided for in Subsection C of this Section. Such funds shall constitute a special custodial trust account which shall be administered by the secretary who shall make disbursements from the account solely in accordance with the purposes and uses authorized by this Part.
B. The funds received shall be placed in the account to be used only in accordance with this Part and shall not be placed in the general fund. The funds shall only be used for the purposes set forth in this Part and for no other governmental purposes, nor shall any portion hereof ever be available to borrow from by any branch of government. It is the intent of the legislature that this account shall remain intact and inviolate. Any interest or earnings of the account shall be credited only to the account. Monies deposited into this account shall be categorized as fees and self-generated revenue for the sole purpose of reporting related to the executive budget, supporting documents, and general appropriation bills and shall be available for annual appropriation by the legislature.
C. The following monies shall be placed into the account:
(1) Private contributions.
(2) Interest earned on the funds deposited in the account.
(3) Any grants, donations, and sums allocated from any source, public or private, for the purposes of this Part.
(4) Any monies deposited into the account pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 30:101.11(B)(2).
D. The monies in the account may be disbursed and expended pursuant to the authority and direction of the assistant secretary for the following purposes and uses:
(1) Any underwater obstruction identification, inventory, or removal conducted by the office of conservation pursuant to this Part.
(2) The administration of this Part by the office of conservation in an amount not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars in any fiscal year.
(3) The payment of fees and costs associated with the administration of the account and any contract with a private legal entity pursuant to this Section.
(4) Any other expenditures determined necessary by the secretary to meet the purposes of this Part.
(5) Payment of any fully justified claim made in accordance with procedures established in this Section for actual damages suffered by a commercial fisherman as a result of hitting or snagging an obstruction or hazard in the waters of the state resulting from natural occurrences, oil and gas activities, or other activities where the owner of the obstruction is unknown.
Acts 1997, No. 666, §2; Acts 1999, No. 599, §1, eff. July 1, 1999; Acts 2021, No. 114, §§6, 18, eff. July 1, 2022; Acts 2022, No. 100, §2, eff. July 1, 2023.
NOTE: See La. Rev. Stat. 30:101.15 regarding the termination of Part after June 30, 2027.