§214.6.3. Functions and responsibilities; hurricane protection and flood control
A. Legislative intent
(1)The legislature recognizes that under Article VI, Section 9 of the Louisiana
Constitution the state carries the ultimate responsibility for the protection of the health and
safety of the people of Louisiana. Though in many policy areas, including the exercise of
certain police powers, the management of affairs is best handled by a local entity, the
legislature must remain vigilant in evaluating whether the advantages of a statewide,
coordinated effort come to outweigh the advantages that local governments have in
responding to local concerns.
(2)As Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike have taught us, integrated coastal
protection has become a state issue. The existing, disjointe
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§214.6.3. Functions and responsibilities; hurricane protection and flood control
A. Legislative intent
(1) The legislature recognizes that under Article VI, Section 9 of the Louisiana
Constitution the state carries the ultimate responsibility for the protection of the health and
safety of the people of Louisiana. Though in many policy areas, including the exercise of
certain police powers, the management of affairs is best handled by a local entity, the
legislature must remain vigilant in evaluating whether the advantages of a statewide,
coordinated effort come to outweigh the advantages that local governments have in
responding to local concerns.
(2) As Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike have taught us, integrated coastal
protection has become a state issue. The existing, disjointed system of local levee districts
is not conducive to the development of a coordinated plan for hurricane protection and flood
control nor to the implementation of such a plan. With the passage of Act No. 8 of the 2005
First Extraordinary Session of the Legislature, the state recognized the need for the
development of a single coast-wide plan for both coastal restoration and hurricane protection
and flood control. Levees and other flood control structures and marsh are both important
for protecting Louisiana from the storm surge that hurricanes bring. In light of the
tremendous coastal land loss that the state has already endured, if levee programs and coastal
restoration programs continue to be operated independently and without consideration of the
other, the state will never achieve the goal of providing the best possible hurricane protection
and flood control for its citizens.
(3) The legislature concludes from these findings that the state should assume direct
responsibility for the coordinating, planning, constructing, realigning, and repairing of
hurricane protection and flood control levees and structures and facilities in a manner
consistent with R.S. 49:214.1.
(4) This Section provides for the functions, powers, and responsibilities of the
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which authority is charged with oversight of
the design, construction, extension, improvement, repair, and regulation of hurricane
protection and flood control projects in the coastal area. The Section also provides for the
integration of the state's hurricane protection and flood control efforts with coastal restoration
efforts through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board.
(5) This Section provides for the functions, powers, and responsibilities of the
Coordinated Use of Resources for Recreation, Economy, Navigation, and Transportation
Authority, which authority is charged with oversight of the design, construction, extension,
improvement, repair, and regulation of flood control and infrastructure projects in the upland
area, as defined in R.S. 38:2352. This Section also provides for the integration of the state's
hurricane protection and flood control efforts with coastal restoration efforts and upland
flood protection and infrastructure projects through coordination between the Coastal
Protection and Restoration Authority and Coordinated Use of Resources for Recreation,
Economy, Navigation, and Transportation Authority.
B. Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority duties and responsibilities regarding
hurricane protection and flood control:
(1) The authority shall have oversight of the administration of all matters related to
the studying, planning, engineering, design, construction, extension, improvement, repair,
and regulation of a hurricane protection and flood control system, including but not limited
to the construction and design of a hurricane protection and flood control system consisting
of levees and associated elements to provide protection against tidal surges within the coastal
area.
(2) The inspection of hurricane protection and flood control levees and structures
within the coastal area shall be the responsibility of the Coastal Protection and Restoration
Authority. The executive director or his designee shall regularly cause such structures to be
inspected and shall maintain a report of such inspections. The authority shall establish and
implement a comprehensive hurricane and flood control protection inspection program.
Such program shall include the following:
(a) Reviewing of hurricane protection and flood control diagrams, designs, and plans.
(b) Monitoring of defects and problems.
(c) Conducting of an inspection of every hurricane protection and flood control
barrier and associated elements at least every five years, or after a hurricane impacts a
hurricane protection and flood control barrier and associated elements. If a defect or problem
is identified, then the authority shall measure and test elevations, soil conditions, and
structural integrity of the hurricane protection and flood control barrier and associated
elements.
(d) The authority shall report a notice of defect in the hurricane protection and flood
control within thirty days of the inspection results to the appropriate entity or political
subdivision. The notice shall contain a description of the defect. The notice of defect shall
be mailed by certified mail or return receipt requested. The appropriate entity, or political
subdivision, shall have forty-five days from receipt of the notice of defect to provide the
authority with a plan and time line to remedy the defect.
(3) The exercise of any authority with respect to hurricane protection and flood
control by a political subdivision within the coastal area is subject to the oversight and
approval of the authority in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the authority.
(4) No state agency or entity shall enter into a contract with the United States Army
Corps of Engineers which would require the state to assume liability for or provide the cost
of operations and maintenance for a hurricane protection project unless the contract provides
for independent third-party review and evaluation in accordance with the best available
science and technical capabilities to confirm the project's anticipated level of protection
against hurricane flooding prior to the state or political subdivision assuming liability and
operations and maintenance obligations. The independent third-party reviewer and evaluator
provided for in the contract shall be approved by both the United States Army Corps of
Engineers and the state agency or entity. However, the provisions of this Subsection shall
not apply to contracts for routine maintenance or other minor construction or repairs, or in
cases where there is imminent threat to life or property, or when the chairman of the Coastal
Protection and Restoration Authority Board, with the approval of the board, determines that
an emergency exists whereby compliance with the provisions of this Subsection would create
an unreasonable hardship.
(5) No funds of the state nor of any political subdivision or political corporation of
the state shall be used nor provided to the United States or any of its agencies, by contract,
agreement, a required contribution of a project cost-share or otherwise, for the expropriation
of property for the purpose of compensatory mitigation of wetlands or other natural habitat,
as authorized or required by state or federal law, to offset, compensate, or replace actual or
anticipated damages to or loss of wetlands or other natural habitat caused by the Comite
River Diversion Project, Amite River and Tributaries, Louisiana. However, the provisions
of this Section shall not apply where such funds are to be used to obtain property voluntarily
offered for compensatory mitigation purposes, including but not limited to mitigation
banking, property where at least seventy-five percent of the owners have voluntarily offered
the property, or property where the record or apparent owner has voluntarily offered the
property but does not have clear title. Subject to any contrary law or terms, conditions, or
stipulations in the act of sale, donation, contract or other agreement by which the property
was acquired, current property interests or future property interests acquired for the Comite
River Diversion Canal Project or associated acquisitions may be leased only in accordance
with the provisions of Chapter 10 of Title 41 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 and
additionally, such opportunity to lease shall first be offered to the original grantor, donor,
vendor, or his successors in title for the same terms, conditions, and price as the highest
successful bidder.