§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.

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.

Acts 2009, No. 523, §3, eff. July 10, 2009; Acts 2010, No. 734, §6; Acts 2012, No. 604, §3, eff. June 7, 2012.