Louisiana Revised Statutes Tit. 38, § 491. Authority to borrow money and issue bonds

The levee districts and levee and drainage districts of Louisiana under the terms of any law which may be enacted by the Congress of the United States may borrow money from the United States government to be used for the purpose of constructing, repairing, or maintaining a levee, levees, drainage, or other works designed to protect the territory of the levee districts from the flood waters of the Mississippi River, upon terms which the congress may determine, and in evidence of the loans, may issue and deliver to the proper federal authorities at par value, negotiable bonds of the levee districts and levee and drainage districts, secured by the pledge of revenues and taxes. The bonds shall bear interest as provided in R.S. 39:1421 et seq., and in terms provide for their repayment, principal, and interest on an amortization plan by means of equal annual installments which will liquidate the bonds in periods ranging from twenty to forty years. The bonds shall not exceed fifteen percent of the total assessed valuation of property subject to levee taxation in any district issuing them, including the bond issues of the district heretofore authorized, issued, and outstanding. In all cases the loan shall be formally approved by the office of engineering whose approval shall be expressly written or printed in or across each bond.