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