Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 29 > Chapter 6 - The Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act

• advisory evacuation: means an evacuation that may be ordered when a disaster or emergency has been declared and evacuation is recommended due to the potential for rapidly changing conditions to develop into a serious threat and all persons in designated evacuation areas are recommended to consider relocating to safer locations for their own safety. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Affiliate: means a person that directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, or is controlled by, or is under common control with, the person specified. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:691.2
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the Louisiana Public Defender Board authorized to regulate public defender services. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Budget authority: Authority provided by law to enter into obligations that will result in outlays of Federal funds. Budget authority may be classified by the period of availability (one-year, multiyear, no-year), by the timing of congressional action (current or permanent), or by the manner of determining the amount available (definite or indefinite).
• chief indigent defender: means an attorney employed by or under contract with the board to supervise service providers and enforce standards and guidelines within a judicial district or multiple judicial districts. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of insurance, the commissioner's deputies, or the Department of Insurance, as appropriate. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:691.2
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Costs: includes any expense or expenditure directly or indirectly related to the sale of a good or provision of a service or the operation of the person's business. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• critical workforce: means public safety officials, disaster response personnel, and other such employees of federal, state, and local governmental agencies, or contractors of such agencies and specific private sector employees, possessing important skills and training in emergency mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery as designated by the parish homeland security and emergency preparedness agency or in the absence of such designation by the parish homeland security and emergency preparedness agency, such designation by the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Defense attorney: Represent defendants in criminal matters.
• Designated emergency area: means the specific area, which shall be limited to the actual affected local area or parish or parishes or such areas as designated in an executive order or proclamation of the governor or parish president. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Disaster: means the result of a natural or man-made event which causes loss of life, injury, and property damage, including but not limited to natural disasters such as hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high winds, and other weather related events, forest and marsh fires, and man-made disasters, including but not limited to nuclear power plant incidents, hazardous materials incidents, oil spills, explosion, civil disturbances, public calamity, acts of terrorism, hostile military action, and other events related thereto. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• District indigent defender fund: means the judicial district indigent defender fund as provided for in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• District office: means the office of a district public defender as provided for in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Emergency: means :

              (a) The actual or threatened condition which has been or may be created by a disaster; or

              (b)(i) Any natural or man-made event which results in an interruption in the delivery of utility services to any consumer of such services and which affects the safety, health, or welfare of a Louisiana resident; or

              (ii) Any instance in which a utility's property is damaged and such damage creates a dangerous condition to the public. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723

• Emergency preparedness: means the mitigation of, preparation for, response to, and the recovery from emergencies or disasters. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Enterprise risk: means any activity, circumstance, event, or series of events involving one or more affiliates of an insurer that, if not remedied promptly, is likely to have a material adverse effect upon the financial condition or liquidity of the insurer or its insurance holding company system as a whole, including but not limited to anything that would cause the insurer's risk-based capital to fall into company action level as set forth in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:691.2
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evacuation: means an operation whereby all or part of a particular population is temporarily relocated, whether individually or in an organized manner, from an area in which a disaster or emergency has been declared and is considered dangerous for health or safety of the public. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• First responders: means the first arriving organized responders with the capability and mission to contain, mitigate, and resolve the emergency at hand, including but not limited to state agency essential workers. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Forced evacuation: means an evacuation that may be ordered as a last resort when a disaster or emergency has been declared and danger of loss of life is imminent, and conditions exist that critically imperil or endanger the lives of those in a defined area. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Homeland: means the state of Louisiana, and where the context requires, means the parishes of the state of Louisiana, "the United States". See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• indigent defender: means an attorney employed by or under contract with the board, the district public defender, regional director, where applicable, or nonprofit organization contracting with the board, district public defender, regional director, where applicable, or the board to provide legal counsel to an indigent person in a criminal proceeding. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• indigent defender services: means the providing of legal services to indigent persons in criminal proceedings in which the right to counsel attaches under the United States and Louisiana constitutions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• insurance holding company system: consists of two or more affiliated persons, one or more of which is an insurer. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:691.2
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Interoperability: means the ability of two or more systems or their components to exchange information and to use the information exchanged. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Jurisprudence: The study of law and the structure of the legal system.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local governmental subdivision: means a parish of the state of Louisiana. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Mandatory evacuation: means an evacuation that may be ordered when a disaster or emergency has been declared and danger is imminent, conditions exist that seriously imperil or endanger the lives of those in a defined area, and government officials strongly urge and order all persons in designated evacuation areas to relocate to safer locations for their own safety. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• NAIC: means the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:691.2
• Necessary designation and credentials: means appropriate credentials obtained from the parish homeland security and emergency preparedness agency or any regional cooperative of parish homeland security and emergency preparedness agencies. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parish president: means the president of any parish, mayor-president, mayor of New Orleans (Orleans Parish), or police jury president. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership, an association, a joint stock company, a trust, an unincorporated organization, any similar entity or any combination of the foregoing acting in concert, but shall not include any joint venture partnership exclusively engaged in owning, managing, leasing, or developing immovable or corporeal movable property. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:691.2
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• program: means the activities directed toward the accomplishment of providing indigent defender services under the Louisiana Public Defender Act. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Regional director: means the person in the employment of the board chosen to oversee and enforce standards and guidelines within a service region created by the board. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Regional office: means the office established for a service region as provided for in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• self-generated revenue: means all revenue received by a judicial district including revenue received as a result of grants or donations or other forms of assistance. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Service region: means one of the public defender service regions created by the board as authorized in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State Public Defender: means the person in the employment of the board chosen to administer the statewide public defender system for the delivery of public defender services. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:143
• Statewide communications interoperability plan for first responders: means a statewide shared communications system for first responders with the ability to transport and receive voice, data, image, and video information adopted by the interoperability subcommittee. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Statewide interoperability plan: means short-term and long-term statewide plans for interoperability for communications and information sharing needed during an emergency and adopted by the state Unified Command Group. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• UCG: means the group which is established by executive order of the governor to bring senior officials within the governor's office and cabinet secretaries or their designees together with a common objective of effectively managing an incident and ensuring that regardless of the number of agencies or jurisdictions involved, all decisions will be based upon mutually agreed upon objectives with the governor as the unified commander. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:723
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.