Provides for the transfer of certain state property in Caddo Parish

House Bill 735 mandates the transfer of specific state property located in Caddo Parish from the Department of Transportation and Development to the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport. The bill accomplishes this by enacting R.S. 17:1518.3 and repealing Sections 5 through 8 of Act No. 93 of the 2025 Regular Session, which had previously authorized discretionary transfers of the same property to either LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport or the LSU Health Sciences Foundation Shreveport. The property consists of four tracts of land comprising Lots 52 through 66 of Salisbury Park Subdivision and Lots 50, 51 and 52 of Samford Place Subdivision in Section 12, Township 17 North, Range 14 West, Northwestern Land District, Caddo Parish, including all improvements situated on the land. The transfer becomes effective July 1, 2026, and the commissioner of administration and the secretary of DOTD are authorized to execute all necessary documents to effectuate the conveyance.

The practical effect of this legislation converts previous discretionary authority into a mandatory transfer obligation. LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport obtains the specified property and becomes responsible for recording the transfer in Caddo Parish conveyance records. DOTD relinquishes control of property that it acquired from Rountree Olds-Cadillac Company in 1987 for use by the Office of Highways. The state, through DOTD, eliminates its option to transfer the property to the LSU Health Sciences Foundation Shreveport instead. Once the transfer is complete, LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport holds title to the property and bears all subsequent obligations associated with its ownership and maintenance.

This legislation operates within the constitutional framework governing state property transfers outlined in R.S. 39:11 and following, which establishes the commissioner of administration's general authority to administer and supervise state property and requires the commissioner to be a party to transactions involving immovable state property. The bill effectively overrides the discretionary framework established by Act No. 93 of 2025 by converting that act's permissive language into a specific mandate directed at DOTD. The conveyance must comply with Louisiana real property law and the Caddo Parish recording system, which will memorialize the transfer through formal documentation in the conveyance records.