Sponsors (9)
The bill strengthens federal clarity, funding, and inclusion for forecasting and landslide preparedness tied to atmospheric rivers and extreme precipitation—improving safety and planning for many communities—while introducing narrower definitions, added administrative burden, and modest taxpayer costs that could reduce flexibility and slow implementation.
State and local governments, tribal communities, and urban/rural residents will get improved forecasting, decision-support, and more-targeted warnings and planning for high‑impact heavy‑rain events (including atmospheric rivers and extreme precipitation) because the bill clarifies definitions and requires a national database and strategy.
Local governments, Indian tribes, Tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations gain clearer inclusion in landslide planning and grant programs, improving access to funding and technical support.
Researchers, local planners, and at‑risk communities benefit from new federal funding directed to USGS (totaling $35M with at least $10M specified) to boost landslide research, monitoring, and database work.
Defining 'extreme precipitation event' using a 5‑year recurrence interval could exclude rarer but still dangerous events and produce inconsistent applicability across regions.
Leaving the designation of an atmospheric river as a 'flooding event' to the Secretary’s discretion risks variability or delayed designations across jurisdictions, which could hinder timely responses.
Narrow statutory definitions plus added consultation/partnership requirements will require agencies (NOAA, USGS and partners) to revise operational criteria and guidance, increasing administrative costs and potentially slowing implementation.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Adds definitions for atmospheric-river and extreme-precipitation events, expands landslide program definitions and database criteria, and requires risk assessments and strategy updates to address those events.
Introduced March 21, 2025 by Suzan K. Delbene · Last progress March 21, 2025
Makes targeted updates to federal landslide and flood law by adding definitions for “atmospheric river,” “atmospheric river flooding event,” and “extreme precipitation event,” and by requiring the landslide program to assess risks from these events. It also expands the kinds of areas flagged in the national landslide database, broadens the list of stakeholders for community preparedness, and adjusts some program language to emphasize contribution and information dissemination rather than sole responsibility for protection and implementation. The bill does not appropriate new funds; it changes statutory definitions, reporting and planning requirements, and data criteria so federal agencies (including Interior and Commerce) must analyze and include atmospheric-river and extreme-precipitation risks in the next national landslide strategy and in hazard database priorities.