Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 30 > Subtitle II > Chapter 12 > Part I - General Provisions

• 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.
• 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
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Candidate: means a person who seeks nomination or election to public office, except the office of president or vice president of the United States, presidential elector, delegate to a political party convention, United States senator, United States congressman, or political party office. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Chairman: means the principal executive officer of a political committee regardless of his title. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• committee: means two or more persons, other than a husband and wife, and any legal entity organized for the primary purpose of supporting or opposing one or more candidates, propositions, recalls of a public officer, or political parties, which accepts contributions in the name of the committee, or makes expenditures from committee funds or in the name of the committee, or makes a transfer of funds to or receives a transfer of funds from another committee, or receives or makes loans in an aggregate amount in excess of five hundred dollars within any calendar year. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contractual relationship: includes but is not limited to land contracts, deeds, easements, leases, or other instruments transferring title or possession, unless the real property on which the facility concerned is located was acquired by the defendant after the disposal or placement of the hazardous substance on, in, or at the facility, and one or more of the circumstances described in Item (i), (ii), or (iii) is also established by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence:

  (i)  At the time the defendant acquired the facility, the defendant did not know and had no reason to know that any hazardous substance which is the subject of the release or threatened release was disposed of on, in, or at the facility. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272

• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2004
• Discharge: means discharge as defined in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Disposal: means disposal as defined in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• District office: means the following offices but shall not include any major office:

              (a) The office of a member of the Louisiana Legislature. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483

• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Election: means any primary, general, or special election held, pursuant to the laws of this state or a parish or municipal charter or ordinance or a court order, to choose a public officer or nominee. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Enrolled bill: The final copy of a bill or joint resolution which has passed both chambers in identical form. It is printed on parchment paper, signed by appropriate officials, and submitted to the President/Governor for signature.
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Expenditure: means a purchase, payment, advance, deposit, or gift, of money or anything of value made for the purpose of supporting, opposing, or otherwise influencing the nomination or election of a person to public office, for the purpose of supporting or opposing a proposition or question submitted to the voters, or for the purpose of supporting or opposing the recall of a public officer, whether made before or after the election. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Facility: means facility as defined in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• 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.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governmental entity: means the state or any political subdivision and the federal government as a cost share partner. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 34:3471
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Hazardous substance: means any gaseous, liquid, or solid material which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or biological composition when released into the environment poses a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, the environment, or property, and which material is identified or designated as being hazardous by rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the secretaries of the Department of Environmental Quality or of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, regardless of whether it is intended for use, reuse, or is to be discarded. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• Hazardous waste: means hazardous waste as defined in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Intentional criminal violation: means conduct which establishes that a violator was in the state of mind which exists when the circumstances indicated that the offender actively desired the prescribed criminal consequences to follow his act or failure to act. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Joint committee: means the House Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works and the Senate Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works, functioning as a joint legislative committee. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 34:3471
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Major office: means the following offices: governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner of insurance, the superintendent of education, public service commissioner, justice of the supreme court, court of appeal judge, district court judge in a judicial district comprised of a single parish with a population in excess of four hundred fifty thousand persons as determined by the most recently published decennial federal census where the election district is parishwide, as long as these offices are elective offices, and any candidate for office with an election district containing a population in excess of two hundred fifty thousand persons as determined by the most recently published decennial federal census. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Nonparticipating party: means a person who refuses to comply with the demand of the secretary, or fails to respond to the demand, or against whom a suit has been filed by the secretary. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• 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.
• Owner or operator: means any person owning or operating a facility. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• Participating party: means a person who undertakes remedial action after receiving a demand from the secretary in compliance with the demand and as approved by the secretary. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• 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 any individual, municipality, public or private corporation, partnership, firm, the United States Government, and any agent or subdivision thereof or any other juridical person, which shall include, but not be limited to, trusts, joint stock companies, associations, the state of Louisiana, political subdivisions of the state of Louisiana, commissions, and interstate bodies. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2004
• person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
• Person: means any individual, partnership, limited liability company or corporation, association, labor union, political committee, corporation, or other legal entity, including their subsidiaries. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pollution source: means pollution source as defined in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272
• Principal campaign committee: means a political committee designated by a candidate pursuant to La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Public office: means any state, parish, municipal, ward, district, or other office or position that is filled by election of the voters, except those specifically excepted in Paragraph (3) of this Section. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remedial cost: means after the discharge or disposal of a hazardous substance the cost of:

  (i)  Removing, confining, or storing any hazardous substance; constructing barriers, securing the site, encapsulating in clay or other impermeable material;

  (ii)  Cleaning up a contamination, recycling, or reuse of a hazardous substance;

  (iii)  Diversion, destruction, or segregation of reactive or other wastes;

  (iv)  Dredging or excavating a site;

  (v)  Repairing or replacing leaking containers;

  (vi)  Collection of leachate and runoff;

  (vii)  Onsite treatment or incineration of a substance;

  (viii)  Provision of alternative water supplies;

  (ix)  Monitoring, testing, or analyzing;

  (x)  Employing legal, engineering, chemical, biological, architectural, or other professional consultants or personnel;

  (xi)  Investigation, initiation, or prosecution of lawsuits to final judgment;

  (xii)  Transporting and disposing of waste from the site; or

  (xiii)  Any other action the secretary deems necessary to restore the site or remove the hazardous substance. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2272

• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2004
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subsidiary committee: means a political committee other than a principal campaign committee, designated by a candidate or by a principal campaign committee pursuant to La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Supervisory committee: means the Board of Ethics established in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.