Sponsors (2)
Official title: Provide for planning and implementation of nonstructural flood risk management solutions, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 26, 2026 by Sheldon Whitehouse · Last progress March 26, 2026
The bill makes it much easier and cheaper for many flood‑prone homeowners and communities to use nonstructural risk‑reduction measures and provides social supports and higher Federal funding, but at the cost of substantially higher Federal spending, greater local administrative burdens, and some eligibility, cost, and implementation tradeoffs.
Homeowners and local governments in flood-prone areas gain expanded access to nonstructural risk-reduction measures (elevation, floodproofing, basement filling, buyouts, demolition/relocation) and the ability to apply these rules to ongoing Corps projects, increasing options to reduce flood and storm damage.
Low-income individuals, owners of repetitive-loss structures, and disadvantaged communities receive much higher Federal cost‑shares (e.g., up to 90% for disadvantaged communities; 75–100% for repetitive-loss owners), lowering local financial barriers to buyouts, elevations, and other nonstructural measures.
Homeowners subject to acquisition or relocation get social supports—advisory services, temporary housing, moving-cost coverage, and supplemental payments (including funds above appraised value for low‑income owner‑occupants)—reducing displacement hardship and helping secure comparable replacement housing.
Taxpayers and the Federal budget will likely face higher costs because the bill increases Federal cost‑shares and expands eligible relocation/elevation expenses (advisory services, temporary housing, moving costs, utilities, abatement, supplemental payments).
Local governments and non‑Federal partners may face increased administrative burdens, faster deadlines, additional matching requirements, and budgeting uncertainty while new guidance is developed.
Allowing advance Federal payments to non‑Federal interests or individual owners raises the risk of improper payments and contract‑management problems for the Corps and could increase oversight costs.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Corps to treat nonstructural flood-risk measures equally, resume eligible studies, and make acquisition, relocation, and elevation costs eligible project expenses under specified rules.
Directs the Army Corps of Engineers to give nonstructural flood-risk measures (like elevation, floodproofing, buyouts with demolition or relocation) equal weight with structural options in flood risk and hurricane/storm damage planning, and requires the Corps to continue or resume eligible studies and projects unless limited exceptions apply. It also requires the Corps to implement voluntary property acquisition and relocation programs with specified relocation and temporary housing costs as project costs, and to adopt standards, cost‑share rules, and procedures for structure elevation projects including allowable costs and proof-of-ownership rules.