Sponsors (6)
The bill standardizes and improves hazard and flood modeling to boost planning, transparency, and disaster-response consistency, but it raises costs and compliance burdens for governments and vendors, creates potential delays, and carries a risk of private-sector influence.
Federal, state, and local planning agencies will get standardized, validated hazard models and consistent risk metrics, improving the reliability and comparability of flood and hazard maps used for infrastructure planning and permitting.
State and local emergency planners and communities will have more comparable, timely risk information to improve disaster response, recovery planning, and coordination across jurisdictions.
Homeowners, local governments, and property owners will benefit from improved data on built-environment exposures and adaptation practices, enabling better mitigation, land-use decisions, and resilience investments.
State and local governments may face compliance burdens to update or replace existing modeling tools because the bill requires incorporation of standardized models 'to the maximum extent practicable,' imposing costs and staff time.
Taxpayers and small business model providers could face higher costs because vendors will need to certify conformity to standards, which may raise prices for agencies procuring models and impose development costs on private providers.
Federal and state agencies could be constrained from using some existing models during emergencies if standards are interpreted narrowly, potentially limiting options in urgent situations despite emergency-notification provisions.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a Commission to inventory hazard risk models, recommend validation and data standards, and advise federal procurement of such tools.
Official title: To direct the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology to establish a Commission on Hazard Risk Assessment Tools, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 21, 2026 by Scott Franklin · Last progress April 21, 2026
Creates a federal advisory commission to inventory and evaluate hazard risk assessment tools and models, identify data sources and inputs, and develop best-practice standards for validating, improving, and procuring such tools. The Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology must form the Commission within 180 days, appoint balanced membership from federal, state/local, academic, and private-sector stakeholders, and review the Commission's recommendations within 180 days of receipt to adopt, modify, or decline them and issue guidance accordingly. The Commission’s work focuses on quality control, validation, and standardization for outputs like hazard maps, flood maps, risk scores, and built-environment data; it also examines Federal procurement practices and Federal Acquisition Regulation implications for acquiring hazard modeling tools and models.