Sponsors (9)
The bill makes it easier and cheaper for communities to carry out ecosystem and floodplain restoration by waiving FEMA map-change fees and broadening eligibility, but it shifts some flood risk, costs, and administrative responsibility onto nearby homeowners and local governments and may create short-term uncertainty about changed flood hazards.
Local and state governments and homeowners can carry out restoration and floodplain projects without paying FEMA map-change fees and regardless of project funding source, lowering upfront costs and widening who can qualify for exemptions.
Local governments and rural communities can implement certain ecosystem restoration activities inside regulatory floodways, which can restore floodplain functions and improve flood resilience and environmental health.
FEMA and local governments receive clearer timelines and a required post-project analysis within 180 days, improving oversight, data on changed flood conditions, and the ability to evaluate project impacts.
Homeowners near restoration projects could face higher flood risk and increased flood insurance costs if permitted projects raise Base Flood Elevations (up to a foot or more) and analyses fail to fully capture impacts.
Local and state governments bear responsibility to ensure no insurable structures or critical infrastructure are adversely impacted, creating administrative, technical, and potential liability burdens for communities implementing projects.
Landowners, homeowners, and insurers may face increased uncertainty about future development rules and floodplain constraints because the bill relaxes some regulatory limits in floodways.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Waives FEMA fees for map changes tied to ecosystem restoration, allows limited restoration in regulatory floodways under strict conditions, and requires FEMA guidance within 180 days.
Official title: To amend the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 to address ecosystem restoration projects, and for other purposes.
Introduced November 21, 2025 by Troy Downing · Last progress November 21, 2025
Amends federal flood insurance map-change rules to encourage ecosystem restoration projects. It defines “ecosystem restoration project,” waives FEMA review/processing fees for map changes tied to such projects, lets communities permit certain restoration work inside regulatory floodways that slightly raise base flood elevations if strict conditions are met, and requires FEMA to issue implementing guidance within 180 days of enactment. The change broadens an existing fee exemption (previously limited to federally or state-funded habitat restoration) to apply to ecosystem restoration projects regardless of funding, adds documentation and engineering limits to protect structures and critical infrastructure, and preserves existing landowner notification procedures for development in regulatory floodways.