Sponsors (9)
The bill improves national and local hazard data, planning, and targeted funding for floods and landslides—boosting safety and infrastructure resilience—at the cost of added federal and local expenses, potential shifts in funding/priorities, administrative burdens, and possible inequities in grant distribution.
Emergency managers, local and state governments, tribal communities, and homeowners will get improved hazard data and a national risk strategy for atmospheric rivers and extreme precipitation, yielding better flood and landslide risk estimates and stronger preparedness that can reduce property damage and save lives.
Communities in high‑risk areas will receive targeted funding (total $35M, at least $10M for early warning systems) and updated precipitation frequency data/atlas inputs (including atmospheric rivers and 5‑year extremes) to improve landslide detection, early warning, and infrastructure resilience, lowering long‑term repair and replacement costs.
Improved precipitation frequency data and atlas updates will better guide infrastructure design and investment decisions, helping state and local governments and taxpayers avoid higher long‑term maintenance and replacement costs.
Taxpayers and federal agencies will face higher costs from updating the atlas, new modeling work, and added program administration—and directing $35M from USGS reduces agency funding flexibility and could crowd out other priorities.
Stricter or more frequent extreme‑precipitation estimates and new guidance may force higher design standards, increasing project and retrofit costs for state and local governments and homeowners.
Broader definitions, new reporting and coordination requirements, and softened USGS wording risk shifting hazard‑planning priorities, creating administrative burdens, slowing implementation, and potentially reducing direct on‑the‑ground actions unless additional resources are provided.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Incorporates atmospheric river and extreme-precipitation definitions into landslide law and requires assessments and database updates to address related landslide risks.
Official title: To reauthorize the National Landslide Preparedness Act, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 21, 2025 by Suzan K. Delbene · Last progress March 21, 2025
Adds atmospheric river and extreme precipitation definitions into federal landslide law and requires federal agencies to assess and incorporate risks from atmospheric-river flooding and extreme precipitation into the national landslide strategy and hazards database. It updates definitions and program language to broaden the types of precipitation NOAA and the landslide program must consider and clarifies who counts as eligible institutions and Tribal/Hawaiian entities for program purposes.