Summary#
This bill tells the Army Corps of Engineers to plan and carry out nonstructural ways to reduce flood risk. Nonstructural features include elevating buildings, floodproofing, filling basements, and buying floodplain land and removing or moving buildings. The bill says these features must be considered alongside levees and walls in studies and projects. It generally stops the Corps from pausing or ending studies or construction of projects that include nonstructural features, except in specific cases (for example, court orders or lack of local capability). The bill requires regular written updates to local project partners and to certain congressional committees. It creates or keeps a National Nonstructural Committee, a nonstructural working group made of Federal, state, local, and nonprofit experts, and a mandatory nonstructural center of expertise inside the Corps. The Corps must report each year on how nonstructural options are considered and implemented. The bill changes cost-sharing rules for nonstructural measures: the Federal share can be 90% for economically disadvantaged communities and repetitive loss structures, 100% for severe repetitive loss structures, and 75% for other nonstructural measures. The bill allows phased project implementation, requires that property buyouts be voluntary, and requires that the Corps include relocation advice, temporary housing, moving expenses, and possible extra payments for low-income owners when buying properties. For structure elevation projects, the bill sets minimum elevation rules, lists eligible costs (for example, utility upgrades, asbestos abatement, stairs, and temporary housing costs), accepts many types of proof of ownership, and allows owners or local partners to carry out work and receive Federal funds in advance.
What it means for you#
- If you live in a flood-prone area, the Corps must consider nonstructural options like buying floodplain land or raising your house. Participation in buyouts must be voluntary.
- If your home is repeatedly flooded or is a severe repetitive loss, the Federal government may pay a larger share of nonstructural project costs.
- Local governments and other non-Federal partners will get regular written updates about project schedules, spending, and Corps capacity.
- Owners chosen for elevation can be allowed to hire contractors themselves, and some costs such as temporary housing and moving expenses can be included in project costs.
Expenses#
- The bill sets Federal cost shares for nonstructural measures: 90% for economically disadvantaged communities and for repetitive loss structures; 100% for severe repetitive loss structures; and 75% for other measures.
- Project costs that may be included (and thus shared) include temporary housing and advisory services, reasonable moving expenses, replacement or repair of utilities, asbestos and lead paint abatement, elevated decks or stairs, and temporary displacement housing for owner-occupants.
- The bill allows a supplemental payment above appraised value for low-income owner-occupants if a safe replacement home costs more than the appraised value.
- No publicly available information on total federal or long-term budget costs or specific funding amounts beyond these share rules.
Proponents' View#
- The bill’s findings say nonstructural measures reduce short- and long-term flood risk from rivers, storm surge, and heavy rain. It says these measures keep floodplain benefits like wildlife habitat and groundwater recharge, take less upkeep than levees, and can be more cost-effective. The bill declares that the Corps must give nonstructural options equal consideration and make implementing them a core part of its flood risk work.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.