Sponsors (2)
The bill improves safety, infrastructure resilience, and coordinated preparedness for Arizona dams by requiring wildfire-risk assessments, but it shifts new assessment and potential mitigation costs onto taxpayers, local governments, and utilities and concentrates resources on Arizona rather than nationwide.
Rural communities and local governments in Arizona will face lower risk of dam or reservoir failures because periodic wildfire-risk assessments identify exposures and likely failure scenarios.
State governments and utilities will better protect dam and reservoir operations (flood control, hydropower, water supply, navigation, recreation, ecosystem restoration) because wildfire exposures that could impair authorized purposes are identified and addressed.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plus state and local governments will have actionable mitigation strategies and improved preparedness/response because assessments incorporate federal, state, and local data and best-available science to guide coordination.
Taxpayers will likely pay more because conducting periodic wildfire-risk assessments will require additional Corps funding or reallocation of existing budgets.
Local governments and utilities may face new compliance obligations and matching or reconstruction costs if assessments identify needed mitigation, imposing fiscal strain on those entities.
Focusing authorized assessments on Arizona may leave other high-risk states without similar proactive evaluations, creating geographic inequities in dam safety and preparedness.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes the Army to conduct wildfire risk assessments for Corps dams, reservoirs, and related infrastructure in Arizona to identify exposure, post-fire impacts, and mitigation options.
Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to carry out periodic wildfire risk assessments for federally authorized dams, reservoirs, and Corps of Engineers infrastructure located in Arizona. The assessments must identify wildfire exposure to the Corps’ authorized purposes, risks to nearby communities from potential facility failures, post-wildfire impacts (for example, sedimentation and debris flows), relevant existing studies and data, and mitigation strategies to improve preparedness and recovery.
Official title: Require the Secretary of the Army to conduct certain wildfire risk assessments, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 14, 2026 by Mark Edward Kelly · Last progress July 14, 2026