ENROLLED
2022 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 227
BY REPRESENTATIVE ZERINGUE
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request that the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the Governor's
Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the Department of
Natural Resources, the Department of Transportation and Development, the
Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and
the Division of Administration's Office of Community Development work with the
leadership or designees of the Association of Levee Boards of Louisiana (ALBL),
to recommend a legislative framework and the structure of a permanent nonstate
entity to track and advocate to address, change, propose, or modify federal policy
and law issues impacting flood protection and restoration throughout Louisiana and
to create a structure to receive outside funding for these same purposes and to deliver
a report regarding the same to the House of Representatives of the Legislature of
Louisiana prior to the 2023 Regular Session of the Legislature.
WHEREAS, the members of the ALBL, each being political subdivisions of the state
of Louisiana, regularly encounter federal agency policy issues, regulatory issues, executive
orders of the administration, and laws, existing or proposed, that adversely impact their
ability to provide flood protection and or drainage within their jurisdiction; and
WHEREAS, the above listed state agencies and offices also regularly encounter
federal agency policy issues, executive orders of the administration, and laws, existing or
proposed, that adversely impact their ability to provide flood protection, restoration,
recovery, construction, rehabilitation, and other services to the residents of the state of
Louisiana within their agency's charge and mission; and
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WHEREAS, examples of these federal policies, circulars, guides, manuals, laws,
established definitions, among others, existing or proposed, include as a way of example but
are not limited to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP); the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) Risk Rating 2.0; the NFIP Floodplain Management
Standards; the definition of Waters of the United States; the United States Army Corps of
Engineers National Levee Safety Program; the Magnuson-Stevens Act; the Gulf of Mexico
Energy Security Act; the Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems Act;
regulatory guidance on EPA section 404 and 408; the Rivers and Harbors Act; the United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant
Funding and Disaster Relief Funding; the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and
Restoration Act; the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; and the Natural Resource
Damage Assessment; and
WHEREAS, state agencies and offices can find it challenging to both affect
programmatic changes in policy, procedure, and law as it pertains to the very programs they
administer on behalf of the citizens of Louisiana while at the same time administering these
important programs; and
WHEREAS, it is believed that the state agencies referenced in this resolution do not
have an appropriate avenue to receive outside, nongovernmental funding for flood
protection, drainage, restoration and other disaster recovery or remediation funds; and
WHEREAS, collectively, the above agencies and the ALBL do not have a
mechanism to hire appropriate services to advocate for tracking, monitoring, or
recommending change or other actions pertaining to federal agency policy issues, regulatory
issues, executive orders of the administration, and laws, existing or proposed, that adversely
impact their ability to provide flood protection and or drainage within their jurisdiction; and
WHEREAS, there is no statewide consolidated effort to provide timely responses to
federal issues related to flood protection, drainage and restoration as they may arise; and
WHEREAS, the citizens of Louisiana would benefit from a better coordinated state
effort in the formation of an entity working for these states agencies as part of or along with
the ALBL to address these federal flood protection and restoration issues timely and
effectively.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Coastal Protection and Restoration
Authority, the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the
Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Transportation and Development, the
Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the
Division of Administration's Office of Community Development work with the leadership
or designees of the Association of Levee Boards of Louisiana, to recommend a legislative
framework and the structure of a permanent nonstate entity to track and advocate to address,
change, propose, or modify federal policy and law issues impacting flood protection and
restoration throughout Louisiana and to create a structure to receive outside funding for these
same purposes and to deliver a report regarding the same to the House of Representatives
of the Legislature of Louisiana prior to the 2023 Regular Session of the Legislature.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
president of the Association of Levee Boards of Louisiana, the executive director of the
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the director of the Governor's Office of
Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the secretary of the Department of Natural
Resources, the secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development, the
secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, the secretary of the Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries, and the executive director of the Division of Administration's Office
of Community Development.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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