Proclamation by His Excellency, M. J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., Governor of the State of Louisiana, Dated March 5, 2001, Convening the Legislature of Louisiana in Extraordinary Session

By virtue of the authority vested in me by Paragraph B of Section 2 of Article III of the Constitution of Louisiana, I, M.J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., Governor of the State of Louisiana, HEREBY CALL AND CONVENE THE LEGISLATURE OF LOUISIANA INTO EXTRAORDINARY SESSION to convene at the State Capitol, in the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during twelve calendar days, beginning at 6:00 o'clock p.m. on the 11th day of March, 2001, and ending no later than 6:00 o'clock p.m. on the 22nd day of March, 2001. The power to legislate at such session shall be limited, under penalty of nullity, to the following specified enumerated objects:

ITEM NO. 1: To amend and reenact certain provisions of Title 17 and Title 27 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, to lower the required minimum annual compensation amount to be paid by the land based casino in New Orleans from $100 Million to not less than $50 Million, to revise or repeal the restrictions and limitations on restaurant operations, to revise or repeal the prohibition and limitations on owning or renting hotel rooms by the casino gaming operator, to revise or repeal the prohibition on the sale of products not directly related to gaming, to approve those suspensive conditions of the contract entered into by the state and the casino gaming operator, and to provide that the procedures relative to the negotiations and entering into such contract and issuing or modifying related regulatory approvals are exempt from the provisions of R.S. 27:25, 26, 89 and 255, and 49:950 et seq., to dedicate all state income, except for 10% of said revenue, from the casino gaming operator to a fund to be used to provide an increase in the salary of certain public pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade certificated personnel and other public pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade classroom teachers and public post secondary education faculty as appropriated annually by the legislature. ITEM NO. 2: To amend and reenact certain provisions of Title 17 and Title 27 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, to increase the state license and franchise fees on riverboat gaming from 18 1/2% to 21 1/2% of net gaming proceeds for those riverboat licensees required to make excursions which make an election to conduct gaming operations dockside, to provide for a state license and franchise fee on riverboat gaming of 23 1/2% of net gaming proceeds for riverboat licensees converting their operations to permanently moored riverboat vessel type operations, to authorize certain riverboat licensees to make an election to conduct gaming operations dockside, to authorize the Louisiana Gaming Control Board to regulate cruising, dockside gaming and gaming on permanently moored riverboat vessels, to authorize conversion of riverboat licensee operations to permanently moored riverboat vessel type operations, to define terms, to dedicate all state income in excess of 18 1/2% of net gaming proceeds to a fund to be used solely to provide an increase in the salary of certain public pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade certificated personnel and other public pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade classroom teachers and public post secondary education faculty, as appropriated annually by the legislature, and to otherwise provide relative thereto. ITEM NO. 3: To extend the termination date for the Louisiana Tax Free Shopping Program.

ITEM NO. 4: To amend and reenact R.S. 47:162 to authorize the Secretary of the Department of Revenue to refund taxpayers overpayment under certain conditions and to provide relative thereto. ITEM NO. 5: To legislate relative to the collection of unemployment taxes and payments of benefits by the state for Indian tribes and to provide relative thereto. ITEM NO. 6: To legislate relative to exemptions from state and local sales and use taxes for purchases of utilities used by certain steelworks and blast furnaces and otherwise to provide with respect thereto. ITEM NO. 7: To authorize Esler Industrial Development District to transfer ownership of Esler Field in Rapides Parish to the Louisiana National Guard for military use and to provide relative thereto.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the state of Louisiana, at the Capitol, in the city of Baton Rouge, on this 5th day of March, 2001.

M. J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA ATTEST BY THE GOVERNOR W. Fox McKeithen SECRETARY OF STATE

Official Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana March 11, 2001