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2017 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 1
BY SENATORS MORRISH AND ALARIO AND REPRESENTATIVE LEGER
COASTAL PROTECT/RES AUTH. Approves the comprehensive master plan for
integrated coastal protection.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To approve the comprehensive master plan for integrated coastal protection projects, as
3 adopted by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board.
4 WHEREAS, R.S. 49:214.5.1 et seq. provides for the creation, duties, and
5 responsibilities of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board (board); and
6 WHEREAS, under R.S. 49:214.5.2, the board represents the state's position in policy
7 relative to the protection, conservation, enhancement, and restoration of the coastal area of
8 the state through oversight of integrated coastal protection projects; and
9 WHEREAS, in accordance with the responsibility of the board to represent the state's
10 position in policy relative to integrated coastal protection, membership on the board includes
11 the following: the governor's executive assistant for coastal activities; the secretaries of the
12 Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Department
13 of Environmental Quality, the Department of Transportation and Development, the
14 Department of Economic Development, and the commissioners of the division of
15 administration, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Department of
16 Insurance; seven members who are selected in consultation with the Police Jury Association
17 of Louisiana and the Association of Levee Boards of Louisiana; the chair of the Governor's
18 Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection, Restoration and Conservation; the director of
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1 the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness; and two
2 ex-officio members designated by the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House
3 of Representatives; and
4 WHEREAS, the powers and duties of the board require working in conjunction with
5 state agencies, political subdivisions, including flood protection authorities, levee districts
6 and federal agencies, as well as representatives from the Louisiana Legislature, to develop
7 a state comprehensive master plan for integrated coastal protection (coastal master plan) to
8 address integrated coastal protection efforts from both short-term and long-range
9 perspectives, and to incorporate the structural, management, and institutional components
10 of both efforts; and
11 WHEREAS, the board has engaged a state steering committee to assist with the
12 development of the coastal master plan as directed by Governor John Bel Edwards'
13 Executive Order No. JBE 2016-09, which requires all state agencies, departments, and
14 offices to administer their regulatory practices and programs in a manner consistent with the
15 coastal master plan; and
16 WHEREAS, in development of the coastal master plan, the board has also engaged
17 a diverse group of key stakeholders to serve as the framework development team (FDT)
18 which began meeting in July 2014, with meetings occurring every three to four months
19 thereafter, to establish a clear vision for the 2017 coastal master plan consisting of members
20 from the following twenty-eight groups: Barataria -Terrebonne National Estuary Program,
21 building industry, chemical industry, oil and gas, ports and navigation, community
22 representative, land conservation, recreational fishing, commercial fisheries, Governor's
23 Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Lake Pontchartrain Basin
24 Foundation, landowner representatives, local flood control, Louisiana Department of Natural
25 Resources - office of coastal management, Louisiana Department of Economic Development
26 - small business development, Louisiana Sea Grant, Mississippi Department of Marine
27 Resources - marine fisheries office, Mississippi River Delta Coalition, national advocacy
28 group, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - national marine fisheries
29 services, parish representatives from the eastern, central, and western areas of coastal
30 Louisiana, university/academic representative, United States Army Corps of Engineers,
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1 United States Department of Agriculture - natural resources conservation service, and the
2 United States Fish and Wildlife Service; and
3 WHEREAS, in addition to the FDT, the board also engaged a series of advisory
4 groups to establish the 2017 coastal master plan, including a science and engineering board
5 including scientists and engineers with national or international experience who cover a
6 range of disciplines relevant to the 2017 coastal master plan to provide independent technical
7 review of plan elements, technical advisory committees consisting of nationally known
8 academics and practitioners who offer insight into specific elements of the coastal master
9 plan process, and focus groups to integrate the perspectives of community, fisheries,
10 landowners, energy, industry, and navigation; and
11 WHEREAS, the coastal master plan shall include a list of projects and programs
12 required for the protection, conservation, enhancement and restoration of the coastal area,
13 the action required of each agency to implement said project or program, and a schedule and
14 estimated cost for the implementation of each project or program included in the plan; and
15 WHEREAS, R.S. 49:214.5.3 requires that, as part of the development of the coastal
16 master plan, the board shall conduct not less than three public hearings in separate locations
17 in the western, central, and eastern areas of the coastal area for the purpose of receiving
18 comments and recommendations from the public and elected officials; and
19 WHEREAS, R.S. 49:214.5.3 also requires that at least two weeks prior to each public
20 hearing, the board must contact the parish governing authorities, regional flood protection
21 authorities, levee districts, and the state legislators of the parishes in the coastal areas for the
22 purpose of soliciting their comments and recommendations and notifying them of the public
23 hearing to be held in their area; and
24 WHEREAS, R.S. 49:214.5.3 requires the board to receive written comments and
25 recommendations until thirty days prior to the submission of the coastal master plan to the
26 legislative committees; and
27 WHEREAS, the board has gone well above and beyond the public outreach required
28 by law and in addition to meeting its obligations as set forth in R.S. 49:214.5.3, the board
29 has: (1) hosted an additional public hearing for a total of four public hearings during January
30 2017, in the cities of Houma, Lake Charles, Mandeville, and New Orleans, with a total of
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1 eight hundred attendees, (2) participated in four public hearings sponsored by a coastal
2 Louisiana nongovernmental organization in the city of Abbeville, and the census-designated
3 places of Lafitte, Cameron, and Lacombe in February and March 2017, (3) opened the plan
4 for public comment for eighty-two days of public comment ending on March 26, 2017, (4)
5 hosted twenty community conversations with one thousand two hundred attendees across
6 the coast, (5) given one hundred fifteen general presentation briefings, (6) conducted fifty-
7 five meetings with advisory groups, (7) received six hundred views on the master plan data
8 viewer, and (8) has had eleven thousand Facebook views; and
9 WHEREAS, as required under the provisions of R.S. 49:214.5.3, the coastal master
10 plan adopted by the board must be submitted to the House Committee on Natural Resources
11 and Environment and the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee
12 on Transportation, Highways and Public Works and the Senate Committee on
13 Transportation, Highways and Public Works; and
14 WHEREAS, the legislature may approve or disapprove of the coastal master plan by
15 resolution adopted by a majority vote of the members of each house of the legislature; and
16 WHEREAS, the board shall provide for implementation of the coastal master plan
17 if the legislature approves such plan or if the legislature fails to take action on such plan
18 within sixty days after the plan is submitted.
19 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
20 approve the comprehensive master plan for integrated coastal protection as adopted by the
21 Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
23 chairman of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Alan Miller.
DIGEST
SCR 1 Engrossed 2017 Regular Session Morrish
Approves the comprehensive master plan for integrated coastal protection.
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