Sponsors (3)
Official title: Establish a Federal standard in order to improve the Nation's resilience to current and future flood risk.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Christopher Van Hollen · Last progress June 11, 2026
The bill strengthens federal flood-risk standards, planning, and transparency to reduce future flood damages and improve resilience, but it does so at the cost of higher near-term expenses, added administrative burdens, and broader limits on development that could restrict property uses and slow some projects.
Homeowners, local communities, and taxpayers will face fewer future flood damages because federally funded and approved projects must avoid floodplains or be built to higher, climate-informed elevations and standards.
People in flood-prone areas and nearby ecosystems will have improved safety and environmental protection because agencies must prioritize nature-based solutions, restore floodplain values, and use best-available science to reduce flood risk.
Federal planning, budgeting, and decisionmaking will be more transparent and better informed by science because agencies must report floodplain status, update standards periodically, and provide biennial implementation evaluations to Congress.
Taxpayers, state and local governments, and grant recipients are likely to face higher upfront costs and longer project timelines because stricter flood-risk design standards, additional evaluations, and redesigns increase construction and compliance expenses.
Homeowners and small businesses may see broader restrictions on development and property use because the bill expands floodplain definitions (e.g., 0.2% annual-chance or climate-informed freeboard) and applies stronger avoidance measures.
Federal agencies, financial institutions, applicants, and contractors will incur substantial administrative burdens and staffing or training costs to apply climate-informed methods, prepare notices, and meet new reporting requirements.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Requires a climate‑informed Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and procedural safeguards for federal actions affecting floodplains, plus disclosure duties for federal financial transactions in base‑flood areas.
Requires federal agencies to avoid, minimize, and manage floodplain impacts and to apply a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (a higher, climate‑informed elevation and floodplain footprint) to federally funded projects and agency actions. It directs agencies to evaluate flood risk with best available science, consider alternatives and nature‑based approaches before acting in floodplains, notify affected parties, and update agency plans, budgets, permits, grants, and conveyances to reflect flood risk. Also creates new notice and pre‑closing disclosure duties for federal financial transactions touching base‑flood areas, requires agency reports and biennial evaluations by the Water Resources Council, allows limited exemptions for national security or emergency situations, and tasks interagency bodies to review and update implementation and the Standard periodically.