2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 30:2000.4 — Powers and duties

§2000.4.  Powers and duties

A.  The secretary, in consultation with the board as desired, shall:

(1)  Develop, implement, and manage a comprehensive state master plan for the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(2)  Coordinate state implementation of congressional mandates concerning the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(3)  Serve as primary liaison on behalf of the state with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project, including representation of the state in state and federal partnerships, cost and share agreements, and other public and private cooperative endeavors.

(4)  Represent the policy and consensus viewpoint of the state at the federal, regional, state, and local levels with respect to the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(5)  Enter into partnerships, memoranda of understanding, and cooperative endeavors with state agencies and departments to implement the state master plan, including:

(a)  Department of Wildlife and Fisheries: to operate and maintain wildlife management areas created by the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project, and to plan and monitor projects to improve water quality and fish and wildlife production.

(b)  Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism: to operate and maintain tourist information centers and state parks funded by the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(c)  Department of Agriculture and Forestry: to monitor environmental easements as required by the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(d)  Office of state lands: to monitor and enforce timber harvesting and campsite development on state-owned lands in the basin as required by the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(e)  Department of Transportation and Development, Department of Environmental Quality, and Department of Health and Hospitals: to advise the program on departmental operations relating to the Atchafalaya Basin.

(6)  Provide recommendations to the legislature and congress with respect to the implementation, management, and funding of the state master plan.

(7)  Monitor and seek available federal and private funds and property consistent with the purposes of this Chapter, including funds from matching sources.

(8)  Enter into agreements and cooperative endeavors  consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(9)  Conduct meetings, hold hearings, and promulgate rules as necessary and consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(10)  Appoint advisory committees.

(11)  Expend funds consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(12)  Enter into memoranda of understanding and cooperative endeavors with state, local, and federal public entities consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(13)  Utilize the services and personnel of  state, local, and federal public entities upon mutually agreeable terms and conditions consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(14)  Seek, accept, and use, in accordance with law, gifts, grants, bequests, and endowments, including real property, for purposes consistent with the powers and duties in this Chapter and take such actions as are necessary to comply with any conditions required for such acceptance.

(15)  Administer and enforce the provisions of this Chapter relating to duties and activities of the program and boards, committees, and commissions within the program.

(16)  Perform such other acts and duties as necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Chapter.

(17)  Comply with the provisions of Part II and Part III of Chapter 1 of Subtitle 1 of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, relative to the operating and capital outlay budgets.

B.  The secretary is authorized to:

(1)  Acquire one thousand five hundred acres of land in the Atchafalaya Basin for recreation purposes, and to construct new recreation areas, facilities, and water management features.

(2)  Conduct environmental easement monitoring.

(3)  Operate and maintain public access features.

(4)  Enter into cooperative endeavors or other agreements with state departments or agencies to implement the state master plan.

(5)  Enter into a minimum of four cooperative endeavors or agreements with the United States Army Corps of Engineers for projects covering public access, environmental easements, water management, and  recreation as provided in the state master plan and in the congressional authorization contained in Public Laws 99-88 of 1985 and 99-662 of 1986.

(6)  Use any federal funds that are, or that may become, available as matching funds or on any other basis for any of the projects contained in the capital improvement program or any other projects authorized for purposes of this Chapter, including federal funds from the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project, Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) funds, and  Section 204, Section 206, Section 235, and Section 1135 funds.

(7)  Prepare annual budget requests for fifty-five million dollars in state funds over a fifteen-year period for operation and maintenance of projects in amounts requested to be appropriated annually by the legislature to match federal funds.  The Department of Natural Resources will serve as lead agency and will allocate the operation and maintenance funds to the various state departments and agencies with whom the department has entered into cooperative endeavors or agreements.  The various state departments and agencies will prepare annual operational plans for the use of such funds.

(8)  Prepare and submit annual capital outlay budget requests for the capital improvement projects authorized in R.S. 30:2000.9.

(9)  In addition to funds appropriated for the program, use any other funds, goods, lands, or services donated or otherwise made available, including federal funds made available to the program, for projects authorized by this Chapter.  All such funds, lands, goods, and services may be used in addition to state funds to accomplish the projects authorized herein.  If the use of such funds, lands, goods, and services on an approved project results in a surplus of state funds for such projects, the surplus state funds may be utilized by the program for additional funding, if needed, for projects authorized by this Chapter or for planning, acquisition, or development of these projects authorized by this Chapter for which funds may not be readily available but which, in the judgment of the program, require immediate action to assure continuation of the program, avoid irreversible loss of land or facilities or federal funds, or take full advantage of land sales or other unexpected events which may result in substantial savings to the program, in which case, the waiving of a project will be subject to all laws and rules and regulations governing the capital outlay process.

(10)  Enter into cooperative endeavors or agreements with designated local sponsors for the operation and  maintenance of capital improvements under the recreation feature of the program.

Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 3, §1, eff. April 23, 1998; Acts 1999, No. 920, §1, eff. July 6, 1999; Acts 2003, No. 1215, §1, eff. July 3, 2003.