RS 33:4535

§4535. Railroad commission acquisition of assets; cooperation with the port of New Orleans A.(1) All rights and properties of every kind, movable and immovable, corporeal and incorporeal, including but not limited to lands, servitudes, leases, rails, tracks, locomotives, equipment, motor vehicles, switch yards, books, records, accounts receivable, monies, intellectual property, contracts, actions, and the Huey P. Long Bridge, its approaches and appurtenances and the lands and other things in connection therewith, and all other properties and assets owned, possessed, or used by the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation on the effective date of this Section are hereby transferred to the railroad commission. No instruments of transfer need be executed or recorded and no notice of assignment need be given to third persons, and the transfer of ownership as to all property shall be effective against third persons upon the effective date of this Section, provided that the railroad commission and the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation are authorized to register a notice of the transfer in the conveyance records of applicable parishes making reference to this Section. (2) Upon the effective date of this Section, any pending or unfinished business of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation shall be taken over and be completed by the railroad commission. (3) After the effective date of this Section, whenever the Public Belt Railroad Commission for the city of New Orleans or the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation is a party to or is referred to or designated in any contract, the railroad commission shall be deemed to be a successor party to that contract and any such reference or designation shall be deemed to apply to the railroad commission. A provision in a contract that prohibits, restricts, or requires consent for this substitution and assignment or provides that it gives rise to a default, claim, defense, right of termination, or other remedy is ineffective. B.(1) The railroad commission shall be the successor in every way to the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation. All of the obligations and debts of that corporation are hereby assumed by the railroad commission, including but not limited to the obligations and debts of the Public Belt Railroad Commission for the city of New Orleans expressly assumed in writing by that corporation pursuant to the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement effective February 1, 2018, among the city of New Orleans, the Public Belt Railroad Commission for the city of New Orleans, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, and that corporation. (2) For purposes of this Subsection, legal proceeding includes but is not limited to any suit, action, incidental demand or action, claim, or any other matter filed or pending before any court, administrative agency, or other judicial or quasi-judicial body. (3) For purposes of this Subsection, pleading includes but is not limited to any petition, application, exception, motion, rule, answer, incidental demand, citation, notice, return, affidavit, certificate, oath, bond or other security, summons, subpoena, writ, interrogatory, deposition, court record, and any other pleading or instrument permitted or required in any legal proceeding. (4) Any legal proceeding to which the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation is a party and which is pending upon the effective date of this Section, and all pleadings involved in the legal proceeding, shall retain their effectiveness and shall be continued in the name of the railroad commission. This provision shall not interrupt or suspend the running of any prescription or peremption or revive or renew any matter or action. All further legal proceedings and pleadings in the continuation, disposition, and enforcement of the legal proceeding shall be in the name of the railroad commission, and the railroad commission shall be substituted for the original party, whether the original party is the Public Belt Railroad Commission for the city of New Orleans or the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation, without necessity for formal amendment of any pleading. C. The powers and functions of the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans include the formation and ownership of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation. The corporation and all properties at any time owned by it and the income therefrom shall be exempt from any form of taxation in the state of Louisiana. The property and assets of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation, transferred to the railroad commission by this Section, were acquired by the corporation in direct exchange for properties transferred by the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans to the city of New Orleans. D. The railroad commission, and any of it successors and assigns that operate, manage, and develop the public belt railroad system, shall be subject to the provisions of all federal railroad laws to the extent applicable by their terms to the public belt railroad system, including the Railway Labor Act, the Federal Employers Liability Act, the Railroad Retirement Act, the Railroad Retirement Tax Act, the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, the Federal Railroad Safety Act, and the Interstate Commerce Act. The railroad commission shall exercise and perform its powers and functions in cooperation with the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. The railroad commission is a rail common carrier, and the railroad commission shall possess and retain all rail common carrier status and obligations under federal laws with respect to the public belt railroad system. Nothing in this Part is intended or shall be construed to create or impose any rail common carrier status or obligation on the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. When appropriate, the respective officers and employees of the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans and the railroad commission are authorized to render support and services to the other political subdivision within their respective functions. In order to achieve economy, effectiveness, or coordination of planning, marketing, or operation, subject to the separation required by this Subsection, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans and the railroad commission may contract with each other by cooperative endeavor agreement or otherwise coordinate or combine the use of administrative, legal, executive, financial, marketing, community outreach, and other personnel upon such basis of compensation and value therefor as may be mutually agreed upon by the political subdivisions, provided such arrangement shall in no event include employees performing rail carrier operations. Pursuant to a written agreement, either political subdivision is authorized to donate the use of public equipment and personnel of the political subdivision upon request to the other political subdivision for an activity or function the requesting political subdivision is authorized to exercise. E. The railroad commission pursuant to Article VI, Section 20 of the Constitution of Louisiana, may exercise and perform any authorized power and function, including financing, jointly or in cooperation with the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. Pursuant to Article VI, Sections 19 and 21 of the Constitution of Louisiana, the railroad commission shall be granted all of the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities granted to political subdivisions for economic development purposes for the object and purpose of promoting and expanding the transportation of goods in domestic or international commerce through or related to and for the benefit of the Port of New Orleans and the public belt railroad system. F. The railroad commission and the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans may make agreements between themselves to engage jointly in the construction, finance, acquisition, or improvement of any public port or rail project or improvement, the promotion and maintenance of any undertaking, or the exercise of any power, provided that at least one of those political subdivisions is authorized under a provision of general or special law to perform such activity to exercise such power as may be necessary for completion of the undertaking. Such arrangements may provide for the joint use of funds, facilities, or property or any combination thereof necessary to accomplish the purposes of the agreement, and such agreements may include but are not limited to activities concerning the construction, finance, acquisition or improvement, or repair and maintenance, of public port or rail projects or improvements. G. The railroad commission and the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans are authorized to exchange properties of any kind, immovable or movable, corporeal or incorporeal, when mutually agreed to be in the best interests of the Port of New Orleans. H. It is intended that the railroad commission and the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans will engage in cooperative endeavors with each other to implement the purposes identified in this Part and other public purposes. Cooperative endeavor agreements between these political subdivisions that are consistent with the provisions of this Part shall be presumed to be for a public purpose for both political subdivisions and presumed not to be in contravention of Article VII, Section 14(A) of the Constitution of Louisiana. I. Upon the determination by the board of the railroad commission that the interests of the railroad commission would best be served, the railroad commission may incorporate a nonprofit corporation to be solely owned and controlled by it for the purpose of exercising or supporting a part of the railroad commission's functions. Acts 2020, No. 359, §5, see Act. NOTE: See Acts 2020, No. 359, §§9 and 10 regarding effectiveness and applicability of cooperative endeavor agreement.