HLS 21RS-587 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 6
BY REPRESENTATIVE ZERINGUE AND SENATOR W HITE
FUNDS/FUNDING-BUDGET, ST: Directs flood protection districts and parish governing
authorities in areas benefitting from the federal Hurricane Storm Drainage and Risk
Reduction System (HSDRRS) to contribute towards the $400 million annual
payments the state must make for this project
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To direct the governing authorities of St. Charles Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines
3 Parish, St. Bernard Parish, Orleans Parish, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection
4 Authority - East, and the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority - West
5 Bank to each devise and implement a plan for contributing to the remaining debt
6 owed to the federal government for the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk
7 Reduction System and to report to the legislature by no later than December 1, 2021,
8 on their plan and implementation thereof.
9 WHEREAS, sixteen years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Southeastern
10quadrant of our state; and
11 WHEREAS, in the aftermath, in order to better protect the life and property of
12citizens of Southeast Louisiana in the future, Congress and the state embarked on an
13ambitious program to reduce future storm damage in the area, known as the Hurricane and
14Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS); and
15 WHEREAS, the project entailed countless manpower hours and metric tons of
16materials to construct and rehabilitate hundreds of miles of levees and floodwalls, new
17pumping stations, and water control structures in the southeast portion of the state; and
18 WHEREAS, since embarking on the HSDRRS project in 2008, the state has endured
19multiple hurricanes, at least three of which have caused historic damage to the southwestern
20portion of the state; and
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HCR NO. 6
1 WHEREAS, the citizens of five southeastern Louisiana parishes directly benefit from
2the HSDRRS project while the citizens of the state's remaining fifty-nine parishes are
3saddled with the cost for a storm drainage and protection system that does not directly
4impact them, their property, or their livelihoods; and
5 WHEREAS, as the state is faced with payments due on the HSDRRS project totaling
6more than one billion dollars, the Legislature believes that the five parishes and two flood
7protection authorities that directly benefit from the project should contribute towards
8payment of its cost.
9 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
10direct the governing authorities of each of the following political subdivisions to devise and
11implement a plan for contributing to the remaining debt owed to the federal government for
12the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System: St. Charles Parish, Jefferson
13Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Bernard Parish, Orleans Parish, the Southeast Louisiana
14Flood Protection Authority - East, and the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority -
15West Bank.
16 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby direct
17the governing authority of each such political subdivision to report to the legislature no later
18than December 1, 2021, on their plan and implementation thereof.
19 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to each
20member of the legislature with a district that includes all or part of any of St. Charles Parish,
21Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Bernard Parish, or Orleans Parish; to the governing
22authority of St. Charles Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Bernard Parish, and
23Orleans Parish; and to the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority - East and the
24Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority - West Bank, for distribution to their
25membership.
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HCR NO. 6
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 6 Original 2021 Regular Session Zeringue
Directs the governing authorities of St. Charles Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines Parish,
St. Bernard Parish, Orleans Parish, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority -
East, and the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority - West Bank to each devise
and implement a plan for contributing to the remaining debt owed to the federal government
for the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System and to report to the legislature
by no later than December 1, 2021, on their plan and implementation thereof.
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