Provides relative to the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans

HB 573 amends multiple provisions of the Louisiana Revised Statutes governing the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans by inserting language throughout Sections 4071, 4073, 4121, and 4159.2 that grants the New Orleans city council authority to adopt ordinances that conflict with and supersede the statutory provisions governing the board. The bill adds new subsections G, B, K, and D respectively to these sections, each containing identical language providing that any city ordinance adopted after the statutory provision was enacted shall take precedence over the statute if the ordinance conflicts with it. Additionally, the bill enacts new subsection (4) of Section 4121(A) authorizing the city to establish alternative procedures for rate approval procedures that may differ from those prescribed by statute. The practical effect is to create a hierarchy of local authority whereby the city council can override state-mandated structural, operational, and procedural requirements for the board through subsequent ordinance adoption.

The changes affect the New Orleans city council, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, its executive director, board members, and ultimately the customers of the sewerage and water system. The city council gains explicit authority to modify through ordinance the composition requirements for the board, the compensation and role of the executive director, the procedures for approving rates charged to customers, and the billing policies and collection practices of the board. Customers may experience changes in how their bills are calculated, modified, or forgiven depending on how the city council exercises these expanded powers. Board members and the executive director operate under increased uncertainty regarding their duties and compensation, as these can now be altered through city ordinance rather than remaining fixed by state law. The Board of Liquidation, City Debt, and state oversight mechanisms are effectively subordinated to local ordinance authority in these areas.

The bill operates within the framework of Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 33, which establishes the legal structure and governance of the Sewerage and Water Board as a creature of state statute. Existing law already authorized the city council to establish billing policies through ordinance, but required Board of Liquidation approval for rate changes and prescribed specific procedures for all board operations. The amendment technique employed here follows the principle that later-enacted local legislation can supersede earlier state law when the state legislature explicitly permits such supersession, though this approach is unusual as it essentially grants the city home rule authority over a matter governed by state statute. The constitutional authority for this delegation derives from Article VI, Section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution, which grants municipalities the power to exercise powers granted by the legislature, and the bill explicitly extends that grant through successive ordinances adopted by the city council.