Approves the annual state integrated coastal protection plan for Fiscal Year 2026-2027, as adopted by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board

This resolution approves the annual state integrated coastal protection plan for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 as developed and adopted by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board. The approval mechanism operates under R.S. 49:214.5.1 et seq., which establishes the board's authority to develop, coordinate, and report on the annual integrated coastal protection plan. Once approved by legislative resolution, the plan becomes the governing framework for coastal protection, restoration, and hurricane protection projects throughout Louisiana's coastal area. The plan encompasses funding and implementation authority for various project components including beneficial use of dredged material, land acquisitions, easements, rights-of-way, environmental compliance, maintenance programs, and other innovative coastal protection measures, with all such funding allocated based on project priority status as identified within the plan itself.

This resolution directly affects the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which serves as the implementation and enforcement arm responsible for executing the approved plan. Parish governing authorities, regional flood protection authorities, levee districts, and state legislators in coastal parishes are impacted through their involvement in the statutory public comment process required prior to plan adoption. The plan's identification of priority projects determines which coastal protection and restoration initiatives receive funding and implementation focus during the fiscal year, thus affecting coastal communities throughout Louisiana's western, central, and eastern coastal zones that depend on these protection and restoration efforts.

The statutory framework governing this approval derives from R.S. 49:214.5.1 et seq., which establishes the board's duties, and R.S. 49:214.6.1 et seq., which creates the authority as the implementation body. R.S. 49:214.8.1 et seq. requires integration of an annual Atchafalaya Basin plan as Appendix D to the coastal protection plan. R.S. 49:214.5.3 mandates that the board conduct not fewer than three public hearings in geographically separate coastal areas, provide advance notice to local officials at least two weeks before hearings, and receive written public comments until thirty days before legislative submission. The plan must be submitted to both House and Senate committees on Natural Resources and Transportation, Highways, and Public Works, which provide guidance and approval. The plan becomes effective upon majority approval by both legislative houses or automatically upon July 1, 2026, if the legislature does not disapprove it.