Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 40 > Chapter 8 - Building Regulations

• Account: means the Industrialized Building Program Dedicated Fund Account. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53
• Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all amounts paid by a member, excluding interest paid on the repayment of a refund, and credited to his individual account in the employee's savings account, together with regular interest credited prior to July 1969. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Activity: means a distinct subset of functions or services within a program. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Actuarial equivalent: means a benefit of equivalent value to the accumulated contributions, annuity or benefits and regular interest, as the case may be, computed on the basis of the following assumptions:

  (a)  Interest shall be compounded annually at a rate established by the board and adopted by the Public Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403

• ADA: means the Americans with Disabilities (Civil Rights) Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-336). See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• ADA Standards: means the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design as adopted by the United States Department of Justice pursuant to the ADA and any subsequent amendments or additions to or editions adopted by the Department of Justice. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Agency: means any governmental body employing persons and includes departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and courts. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Agency: means any state office, department, board, commission, institution, division, officer or other person, or functional group, heretofore existing or hereafter created, that is authorized to exercise, or that does exercise, any functions of the government of the state in the executive branch, but not any governing body or officer of any local government or subdivision of the state, or any parochial officer who exercises functions coterminous with the municipality in which he performs those functions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Agricultural excavator: means a person who owns or operates a farm and is directly involved in the cultivation of land or crops or who raises livestock. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Alteration: means deliberate reconstruction of an existing building in whole or in part in order to bring it up to date in conformity with present uses of the structure and to which other rules and regulations on the upgrading of health and safety provisions are applicable. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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
• Appropriation: means an authorization by the legislature to a budget unit for a program to expend from public funds a sum of money, for purposes designated, under the procedure prescribed in this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Authorized other charges positions: means the number of positions in an appropriation bill to be funded by the other charges continuing category of the accounting system for the state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Authorized positions: means the number of positions approved by the legislature in an appropriation bill to be funded by the salaries continuing category of the accounting system for the state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Base pay: means prescribed compensation for a specific position on a full-time basis, but does not include overtime, per diem, differential pay, payment in kind, premium pay, or any other allowance for expense authorized and incurred as an incident to employment, except supplemental pay for certain members as provided by Article X, Section 10(A)(1) of thethe Louisiana Constitution of 1974. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Board: means the Board of Trustees of the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Budget office: means the section of the division of administration which monitors budgeting functions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Budget request: means the document with its accompanying explanations, in which a budget unit states its financial requirements and requests appropriations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Budget unit: means any spending agency of the state which is declared to be a budget unit by the division of administration and which is identified for accounting purposes by a five-digit number code. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Building: means a structure to which the general public customarily has access or utilizes as defined in the ADA Standards. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• Building code: means the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code provided for in Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53
• Commercial building: means a structure used for any purpose other than a one- and two-family dwelling or accessory to a one- and two-family dwelling. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of conservation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Concurrent resolution: A legislative measure, designated "S. Con. Res." and numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally employed to address the sentiments of both chambers, to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses, such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not submitted to the President/Governor and thus do not have the force of law.
• Construction site building: means a commercial structure that is not open to the public and used for any purpose at a commercial site by a person constructing a building, road, bridge, utility, or other infrastructure or improvement to real property. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Continuation budget: means that funding level for each budget unit which reflects the financial resources necessary to carry on all existing programs and functions of the budget unit at their current level of service in the ensuing fiscal year including any adjustments necessary to account for the increased cost of services or materials due to inflation and estimated increases in workload requirements resulting from demographic or other changes. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Council: means the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53
• Damage: means any defacing, scraping, gouging, breaking, cutting, or displacement of, impact upon or removal of an underground facility or utility or its means of primary support. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• 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.
• Demolisher: means any person engaged in the act of demolishing as defined in Paragraph (2) of this Section. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Demolition: means the total or partial wrecking, razing, rendering, moving, or removing of any building or structure, movable or immovable. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dwelling unit: means a single unit of residence for a household of one or more persons. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• Earned compensation: means the base pay earned by an employee for a given pay period as reported to the system on a monthly basis by the agency which shall include the cash value of any emolument of office in the form of paid compensation in lieu of salary which is subject to federal and state payroll taxes and includes the full amount earned by an employee, overtime, and per diem earned by an employee of the House of Representatives, the Senate, or an agency of the legislature, and expense allowances and per diem paid to members of the legislature, the clerk, or sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives and president and secretary or sergeant at arms of the Senate. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Emergency: means any crisis situation which poses an imminent threat or danger to life, health, or property, which requires immediate action, if such action is taken. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Employee: means any person legally occupying a position in the state service. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Employer: means the state of Louisiana or any of its boards, commissions, departments, agencies, and courts which are contributing members of the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• 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.
• excavate: means any operation causing movement or removal of earth, rock, or other materials in or on the ground or submerged in a marine environment that could reasonably result in damage to underground or submerged utilities or facilities by the use of powered or mechanical or manual means, including but not limited to pile driving, digging, blasting, augering, boring, back filling, dredging, compaction, plowing-in, trenching, ditching, tunneling, land-leveling, grading, and mechanical probing. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Excavator: means any person who engages in excavation operations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Executive budget: means the document submitted to the legislature at each regular session, pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter and Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Existing operating budget: means the initial operating budget as adjusted for actions taken by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, the Interim Emergency Board, the legislature, or the governor in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter or any other provision of law. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Expenses: means amounts represented by cash paid out or by obligations to pay cash or partly by each for maintaining and operating government services. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Fire marshal: means the fire marshal of the state of Louisiana. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• Forestry excavator: means an excavator who is a logger, prescribed burner, site preparation operator, or tree planter for commercial forestry operations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Functions: means duties, jurisdiction, powers, rights, and obligations, conferred or imposed upon, or vested in, any agency by law, or exercised, performed, or discharged by any agency without contravention of any provision of law. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Fund: means an independent fiscal and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts recording cash or other resources together with all related liabilities, obligations, reserves, and equities which are segregated for the purpose of carrying on specific activities or attaining certain objectives in accordance with regulations, restrictions, and limitations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Hazardous locations: means those installations, glazed or to be glazed in commercial and public buildings, known as framed or unframed glass entrance doors; and those installations, glazed or to be glazed in residential buildings and other structures used as dwellings, commercial buildings, and public buildings, known as sliding glass doors, storm doors, shower doors, bathtub enclosures which because of their location present a barrier in the normal path traveled by persons going into or out of these buildings, and because of their size and design may be mistaken as means of ingress or egress; and any other installation, glazed or to be glazed, wherein the use of other than safety glazing materials would constitute an unreasonable hazard as determined by the Louisiana State Fire Marshal; whether or not the glazing in such doors, panels, enclosures and other installations is transparent. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1711
• Inclement weather: means weather that prohibits or impedes a worker's use of his locating equipment or causes undue risk to himself or his equipment such as lightning, heavy rain, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, sleet, snow, or flooding conditions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Industrialized building: means a commercial structure that is the following:

              (a) Erected or installed using one or more modules or one or more modular components that are constructed at a location other than the commercial site. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53

• Initial operating budget: means the amount of the appropriation on July first of a particular fiscal year for that fiscal year. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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.
• 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.
• Liability: means a debt arising out of a transaction where goods or services have been received or rendered which must be liquidated, renewed, or refunded at some future date. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the system. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Membership service: means service after July 1, 1947 as an employee while a member of the system. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Modular component: means a structural part of a building constructed at a location other than the commercial site in a manner that prevents the construction from being adequately inspected for building code compliance at the commercial site without damage or removal and reconstruction of a part of the building. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53
• Module: means a three-dimensional section of industrialized building designed and approved to be transported as a single section independent of other sections, with or without modules or modular components, that prevents the construction from being adequately inspected for building code compliance without damage or removal and reconstruction of a part of the building. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• nondiscretionary expenditures: includes but is not limited to expenditures which must be funded because of the following constitutional and other mandates:

              (i) Expenditures required by the Constitution of Louisiana:

              (aa) The salaries of statewide elected officials. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:36

• Nonrecurring revenue: means revenue received by the state from a source identified by the Revenue Estimating Conference as being of a nonrecurring nature. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Normal commercial farming operations: means the following operations or activities for agriculture cultivation purposes:

              (a) Operations or activities that do not encroach upon a private utility or pipeline servitude, public right-of-way, or a public franchise area. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12

• Objective: is a specific and measurable target for achievement which describes the exact results sought, which is expressed in an outcome-oriented statement that may reflect effectiveness, efficiency, or quality of work, and which may be either numeric or non-numeric. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• 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.
• Official forecast: means the most recently adopted estimate of money available for appropriation by the Revenue Estimating Conference as provided in Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Operator: means any person who owns or operates a public or private underground facility or utility which furnishes a service or material or stores, transports, or transmits electric energy, steam, oil, gases, natural gas, gas, mixture of gases, petroleum, petroleum products, hazardous or flammable fluids, toxic or corrosive fluids/gases, including telephone or telegraph system, fiber optic electronic communication systems, or water or water systems, or drainage, sewer systems, or traffic control systems or other items of like nature. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Part-time employee: means any employee who is a part-time, seasonal, or temporary employee as defined in 26 CFR 31:3121(b)(7)-2, or in any successor regulations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Performance standard: means the expected level of performance associated with a particular performance indicator for a particular period. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Performance-based budget: means a budget which relates funding to expected results. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, association, limited liability company, corporation, joint venture, municipality, governmental agency, political subdivision, or agent of the state or any legal representative thereof. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Pipeline: means all intrastate and interstate pipeline facilities defined by Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Position: means any office or any employment in the state service. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Private building or facility: means a commercial facility or a place of public accommodation as such terms are defined by the ADA Standards or in the Life Safety Code. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Program: means a grouping of activities directed toward the accomplishment of a clearly defined objective or set of objectives. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Public building or facility: means a building, structure, or facility designed, constructed, or altered by, on behalf of, or for the use of a quasi public agency, the state, or any agency or department thereof, or any political subdivision or any governmental agency or department thereof or as defined by the ADA Standards. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Refund: means the withdrawal of all accumulated contributions at least thirty days after termination from the state service, or with respect to members having the option of belonging to the system, withdrawal of all accumulated contributions at least thirty days after receipt by the system of written notice of withdrawal. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Regional notification center: means any one of the following:

              (a) An entity designated as nonprofit by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and which is organized to protect its members from damage and is certified by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections in accordance with this Part. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12

• Retirement: means termination of active service, with a retirement allowance granted under the provisions of this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Safety glazing material: means any glazing material such as tempered glass, laminated glass, wire glass or rigid plastic, which meets the test requirements of ANSI Standard Z-97. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1711
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1730.53
• 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: means the state of Louisiana. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Structure: means that which is built or constructed; an edifice or building of any kind; temporary or permanent. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1732
• Student: means a person enrolled in a high school, a vocational-technical school, or a college or university, in a sufficient number of courses and classes in such institution to be classified as a full-time regular student under the criteria used by the institution in which he is enrolled. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Supplemental appropriation: Budget authority provided in an appropriations act in addition to regular or continuing appropriations already provided. Supplemental appropriations generally are made to cover emergencies, such as disaster relief, or other needs deemed too urgent to be postponed until the enactment of next year's regular appropriations act.
• Supporting document: means the document prepared by the budget office and composed of supporting information, data, and documentation used to develop the executive budget. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• System: means the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Termination: means complete cessation of employment with the state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Underground facility or utility: means any pipe, conduit, duct, wire, cable, valve, line, fiber optic equipment, or other structure which is buried or placed below ground or submerged for use in connection with storage, conveyance, transmission, or protection of electronics communication system, telephone or telegraph system, or fiber optic, electric energy, oil, natural gas, gas, gases, steam, mixture of gases, petroleum, petroleum products, hazardous or flammable fluids/gases, toxic or corrosive fluids/gases, hazardous fluids/gases, or other substances of like nature or water or water systems, sewer systems or traffic, drainage control systems, or other items of like nature. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
• Wildfire: means an uncontrolled combustion of natural vegetation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12