Was Louisiana's $1,000 mariculture permit fee paid once or every year?

Plain-English summary

The Department of Wildlife & Fisheries asked whether the $1,000 mariculture-permit fee was charged once when a permit was issued or each year. In Opinion 03-0055, the Louisiana Attorney General concluded it was annual. He read two related statutes together: one specified a $1,000 permit fee, while another expressly directed the secretary to charge an annual $1,000 fee for each permit under that section.

The AG used the rule that related laws should be read together so each has effect. He reasoned that treating the first provision's fee as one-time would leave the annual-fee provision without meaning.

Currency note

Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed this historical opinion's analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Mariculture permit applicants and holders

The AG's answer was that the $1,000 charge identified in the request recurred annually under the statutes he analyzed. The opinion did not decide any permit holder's balance or describe collection procedures.

Wildlife and Fisheries staff

The opinion read the two fee provisions together to give effect to both. A one-time reading would have made the provision requiring an annual fee meaningless.

Common questions

Q: Did the opinion treat the $1,000 as a one-time permit application charge?
A: No. The AG said the statutes together called for an annual fee.

Q: Why did the AG read the fee as annual when one section did not say so?
A: Another section expressly required an annual $1,000 fee. The AG said a one-time reading would make that provision meaningless.

Background and statutory framework

The letter described R.S. 56:579.1 and R.S. 56:579.11 as related mariculture-permit provisions enacted in the same 1988 legislative session. It invoked the principle that laws on a common subject should be construed together. The letter prints no readable issue date beyond its opinion number, so the exact date is blank.

Citations and references

Authorities in the opinion: R.S. 56:579.1; R.S. 56:579.11; LA Civil Code Art 17; Johnston v. Morehouse Parish Police Jury, 424 So2d 1053 (La. App. 2nd cir. 1982), writ denied 427 So2d 1208 (La. 1983). The reporter spelling follows the stored extract.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0055

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place
301 Mare Street, Suite 600
CIVIl. DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
FAX (225) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL

Opinion 03-0055

61 Laws - General
Mr. James H. Jenkins, Jr.
R.S. 56:579.1; R.S. 56:56:579.1C(5), R.S. 56:579.11
Department of Wildlife & Fisheries
Rules of statutory construction dictate that laws in pari materia
must be interpreted with reference to each other. Application
Post Office Box 98000
of this concept to the law governing madculture permits
Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000
indicates that the permit fees are charged on an annual basis.

Dear Mr. Jenkins:

You ask this office to determine whether R.S. 56:579.1 imposes a one-time fee of $1,000.00 for the issuance of a mariculture permit or whether the statute imposes an annual fee of $1,000.00 for the permit.

R.S. 56:56:579.1C(5) provides that "the permit fee for each mariculture permit shall be one thousand dollars". In contrast, R.S. 56:579.11 provides that "the secretary shall charge an annual fee of one thousand dollars for each permit issued under the provisions of this Section".

Act 993 of the 1988 Louisiana Regular Legislative Session enacted R.S. 56:579.11; Act 995 of the same session enacted R.S. 56:579.1C(5).

Laws in pari materia must be construed with a reference to each other. LA Civil Code Art 17. Statutory provisions referring to a common subject are to be construed in such a fashion as to infuse them all with efficacy and meaning and in such a manner as will produce a unified and coherent import. Johnston v. Morehouse Parish Police Jury, 424 So2d 1053 (La. App. 2nd cir. 1982) at page 1056; writ denied 427 So2d 1208 (La. 1983).

In order to give effect to both provisions of the statute, which we are directed to do by rules of statutory construction, we conclude that the fee to be charged is an annual fee.
To construe it otherwise would render R.S. 56:579.11 meaningless.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
AiI-I-OJ~N EY GENERAL
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