Opinion ID: 1858260
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether La. R.S. 27:245(A) has been repealed.

Text: La. R.S. 27:245(A) reads as follows: The board shall have the right to set aside or renegotiate the provisions of any casino operating contract of a casino operator who is voluntarily or involuntarily placed in bankruptcy, receivership, conservatorship, or similar status. The corporation may agree in writing to allow the casino operator to be placed in bankruptcy, receivership, conservatorship, or other similar status without setting aside, revoking, or renegotiating the casino operation contract. (emphasis added). Clearly, under the plain and unambiguous language of the statute, the Board is granted the authority to renegotiate the casino operating contract where, as in the instant case, the casino operator has been voluntarily placed in bankruptcy. Further, there is no statutory requirementeither expressed or impliedin La. R.S. 27:245(A) that the Board seek either gubernatorial or legislative approval of the renegotiated contract. Senators Bean and Jordan, however, urge that La. R.S. 27:245(A) is no longer in force, arguing that 245(A) was rather implicitly repealed by the legislature's 1996 amendments to La. R.S. 27:224, which added subsections (D) and (E). Louisiana Civil Code article 8 provides in pertinent part: Laws are repealed, either entirely or partially, by other laws. A repeal may be express or implied. It is express when it is literally declared by a subsequent law. It is implied when the new law contains provisions that are contrary to, or irreconcilable with, those of the former law. Nonetheless, it is well settled in the jurisprudence that repeals by implication are not favored. Thomas v. Highlands Ins. Co., 617 So.2d 877, 878 (La.1993); State v. Piazza, 596 So.2d 817, 819 (La.1992); In re Robin Sapia, 397 So.2d 469, 473 (La.1981); Gulf Oil Corp. v. State Mineral Bd., 317 So.2d 576, 587 (La.1974); State v. Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana, 188 La. 978, 178 So. 601, 626 (1937). As such, a repeal by implication will be found only where there is an irreconcilable conflict between two statutes and where there exists no possible construction that could give both statutes effect. In re Robin Sapia, 397 So.2d at 473; Standard Oil, 178 So. at 626. We find, as did the lower courts, no such irreconcilable conflict between La. R.S. 27:245(A) and La. R.S. 27:224(D) and (E). La. R.S. 27:224(D) provides as follows: The governor by executive order, subject to legislative approval either by vote or by mail ballot, or the legislature by Act or Resolution may set aside or order that the corporation renegotiate the provisions of the casino operating contract of a casino operator who is voluntarily or involuntarily placed in bankruptcy, receivership, conservatorship, or similar status. Any action so taken shall constitute the revocation or modification of a pure and absolute revocable privilege as provided in R.S. 27:202(C). Neither the State of Louisiana nor any political subdivision thereof shall be liable in damages for such revocation, modification, or order for renegotiation. Subsection (D), which tracks the language used in 245(A), purports to give the legislature the power to set aside or to order the Board to renegotiate the casino operating contract when, inter alia, the casino operator is voluntarily placed into bankruptcy. We see no conflict between La. R.S. 27:245(A), which grants authority to the Board to set aside or renegotiate the casino operating contract on its own initiative when the operator is placed in bankruptcy, and La. R.S. 27:224(D), which grants the governor, subject to legislative approval, or the legislature, acting alone, the authority to set aside the casino operating contract or to order the Board to renegotiate it when the operator is placed in bankruptcy. La. R.S. 27:245(A) and La. R.S. 27:224(D) simply provide alternate means for the initiation of renegotiations or for the setting aside of the existing operating contract. This interpretation is supported by the legislative history. Representative Stephen Windhorst, a co-sponsor of House Bill 9, which became Act 58 of 1996 that added subsections (D) and (E) to La. R.S. 27:224, and the Chairman of the House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice, a committee that reported on this bill, testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting and his House Committee meeting with respect to the purpose of the amendment that added subsection (D). The purpose of subsection (D), according to Representative Windhorst, was to address the legislature's concern that because LEDGC (the Louisiana Gaming Control Board had not yet been created) was funded by the casino operator that was then in bankruptcy, thereby depriving the LEDGC of funding, there was no entity that was empowered to take any action against the casino operator in response to its bankruptcy. Prior to the passage of this bill, only the LEDGC could set aside the contract or renegotiate it where the casino operator was in bankruptcy. What this bill does ... is allow the Governor and/or the legislature to take that action. Transcript of Hearing, Committee on Judiciary B, April 15, 1996, p. 64; see also Minutes, Administration of Criminal Justice Meeting, March 28, 1996, p. 2. Thus, there is absolutely no indication that the amendment of La. R.S. 27:224 was intended to give the legislature the power to prevent the LEDGC from setting aside or renegotiation the contract of a bankrupt casino operator, nor is there any evidence that it was intended to require final approval by the legislature for any amended, renegotiated contract to become effective. Rather, the legislative history supports only the finding that the legislature intended that some entity would be empowered to act in the event that the casino operator was placed in bankruptcy or similar status. La. R.S. 27:224(E) reads as follows: The governor by executive order or the board overseeing the operation of the casino, subject to legislative approval either by vote or by mail ballot, or the legislature by Act or Resolution may negotiate a new casino operating contract. Unlike La. R.S. 27:245(A) and 27:224(D), La. R.S. 27:224(E )'s application is not limited to circumstances in which the casino operator has been placed in bankruptcy or similar status, but is broader in its reach. La. R.S. 27:224(E) grants the governor, subject to legislative approval, or the legislature, acting alone, the right to negotiate a new casino contract. Again, we see no irreconcilable conflict between this provision and La. R.S. 27:245(A). La. R.S. 27:224(E) can be construed to apply only to negotiations of a new contract for a casino operator and not to the clearly distinguishable renegotiation of the existing casino operating contract, pursuant to La. R.S. 27:245(A) or even La. R.S. 27:224(D), which applies only in the limited circumstance where the casino operator has been placed in bankruptcy or similar status. We also note two other items of legislative history that lend support to the proposition that La. R.S. 27:245(A) was not implicitly repealed. In the Act that created the Louisiana Gaming Control Board and transferred to it all of the powers, duties, and obligations of the LEDGC, Section 3 provided that all of the statutory provisions found in the Louisiana Riverboat Economic Development and Gaming Control Act, the Video Draw Poker Devices Control Law, and the Louisiana Economic Development and Gaming Corporation Act were to be redesignated and consolidated with the new Gaming Control Board provisions by the Louisiana State Law Institute. Thus, pursuant thereto, the Institute redesignated former La. R.S. 4:645 as La. R.S. 27:245(A). Furthermore, we note that Section 2 of Act 58 of 1996, which added subsections (D) and (E) to La. R.S. 27:224, stated that the additions were not intended to make any change in the law, but were only intended to clarify the intent of the legislature when it enacted the original casino laws in 1992. Thus, considering the legislative history described above and the fact that La. R.S. 27:245(A), 27:224(D), and 27:224(E) can all be construed harmoniously, we find, as did the lower courts, that the legislature did not implicitly repeal La. R.S. 27:245(A) by amending La. R.S. 27:224 in 1996 to add subsections (D) and (E). We next conclude that the Board has the independent authority to renegotiate the casino operating contract pursuant to that statute, without seeking gubernatorial or legislative approval. Finally, we hold that the Board is authorized to execute the renegotiated contract, pursuant to La. R.S. 27:15, which provides, in pertinent part, that the Board shall have all the power incidental and necessary to such regulatory authority, control, and jurisdiction over all aspects of gaming activities and operations as authorized pursuant to the provisions of the... Louisiana Economic and Gaming Corporation Act....