As used in this Part, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them below:

            (1) “Annual plan” means the state integrated coastal protection plan submitted annually to the legislature as provided in this Part including amendments to the plan, as determined by the board. Such plan shall provide for protecting, conserving, enhancing, and restoring the coastal area through the construction and management of integrated coastal protection projects and programs pursuant to the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 49:214.5.3.

            (2) “Authority” means the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

            (3) “Board” means the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board.

            (4) “Coastal area” means the Louisiana Coastal Zone and contiguous areas subject to storm or tidal surge and the area comprising the Louisiana Coastal Ecosystem as defined in Section 7001 of P.L. 110-114.

            (5) “Conservation and restoration” means the conservation, protection, enhancement, and restoration of coastal resources including but not limited to coastal wetlands, marshes, cheniers, ridges, coastal forests, and barrier islands, shorelines, coastal passes, or reefs through the construction and management of coastal resources enhancement projects, including privately funded marsh management projects or plans, and those activities requiring a coastal use permit which significantly affect such projects or which significantly diminish the benefits of such projects or plans insofar as they are intended to conserve or enhance coastal resources consistent with the legislative intent as expressed in La. Rev. Stat. 49:214.1.

            (6) “Executive assistant” means the special assistant to the governor for coordination of coastal activities as delineated in La. Rev. Stat. 49:214.3.1.

            (7) “Executive director” means the person appointed to serve as the head of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

            (8) “Fund” means the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund.

            (9) “Hurricane protection” means systems to provide protection against tidal and storm surges.

            (10) “Infrastructure” means facilities or systems in the coastal area that are negatively impacted by coastal land loss or rising seas, and that serve a critical public purpose and are consistent with the priorities stated in the master plan and the eligible uses of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006. The term shall not include levee, hurricane protection, or coastal restoration systems.

            (11) “Integrated coastal protection” means plans, projects, policies, and programs intended to provide hurricane protection or coastal conservation or restoration, and shall include but not be limited to coastal restoration; coastal protection; infrastructure; storm damage reduction; flood control; water resources development; erosion control measures; marsh management; diversions; saltwater intrusion prevention; wetlands and central wetlands conservation, enhancement, and restoration; barrier island and shoreline stabilization and preservation; coastal passes stabilization and restoration; mitigation; storm surge reduction; or beneficial use projects.

            (12) “Master plan” or “comprehensive master coastal protection plan” means the long-term comprehensive integrated coastal protection plan combining coastal restoration, coastal zone management, storm damage reduction, hurricane protection, flood control, and the protection, conservation, restoration, and enhancement of coastal wetlands, marshes, cheniers, ridges, coastal forests, and barrier shorelines or reefs, including amendments, as determined by the board to the plan. It shall include but not be limited to state and political subdivision operations plans.

            (13) “Program” means a management strategy with procedures, projects, schedules, operations, and related activities to achieve a stated goal or objective.

            (14) “Project” means a physical structure or structures designed and constructed according to the annual plan.

            (15) “Sponsoring authority” means the governing authority of any municipal, parish, or other political subdivision submitting an application for funding of a project in the program.

            (16) “Wetlands” means an open water area or an area that is inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, but specifically excluding fastlands and lands more than five feet above mean sea level which occur within the designated coastal area of the state. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.

            Acts 1989 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 6, §3, eff. July 14, 1989; Acts 2009, No. 523, §3, eff. July 10, 2009; Acts 2012, No. 604, §3, eff. June 7, 2012; Acts 2020, No. 89, §2.