Provides relative to the board of commissioners of Livingston Parish Gas Utility District No. 1

HB 87 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes section 33:4305(B)(3) to increase the maximum per diem compensation for members of the board of commissioners of Livingston Parish Gas Utility District No. 1 from seventy-five dollars to one hundred twenty-five dollars per day. The statute continues to prohibit board members from receiving a salary for their service and maintains the existing limitations on per diem payments to a maximum of fifty meetings per year. The amendment does not alter the structural composition of the board, the appointment process, the term lengths of board members, or any other provisions governing the district's operations. Board members retain their ability to be reimbursed for proper expenses incurred in conducting district business and to receive additional reasonable compensation when serving in officer positions such as secretary, treasurer, or secretary-treasurer.

The practical effect of this legislation is to increase the compensation available to the seven board members appointed by the Livingston Parish governing authority and the two board members appointed by any included municipality or municipalities. Under present law, members could receive a maximum of three thousand seven hundred fifty dollars annually in per diem payments if they attended the allowable fifty meetings per year at the prior seventy-five dollar rate. Under the amended law, this maximum increases to six thousand two hundred fifty dollars annually per member, representing an increase of two thousand five hundred dollars per member or approximately sixty-seven percent. This change makes service on the board more financially attractive to potential appointees and provides modest additional compensation to current members for their administrative and governance responsibilities.

This amendment operates within the existing statutory framework established for special utility districts in Louisiana parishes under Revised Statutes Title 33. Livingston Parish Gas Utility District No. 1 functions as a special district created pursuant to state law with authority to provide natural gas utility services within specified boundaries. The board compensation provisions are governed exclusively by state statute rather than local ordinance, meaning the legislature retains direct authority to set compensation limits for board members. The increase in per diem does not require any action by the parish governing authority or municipalities and does not affect how the district finances its operations or provides services to customers, as per diem payments to board members constitute a routine administrative expense of district governance.