Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I am reintroducing the State Flood Mitigation Revolving Fund Act of 2019 along with Senators Kennedy and Menendez.

The purpose of our bill is to reduce flood risk and the costs associated with flooding by establishing a State revolving loan program to fund mitigation projects for property owners and communities that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program. By funding projects that reduce risk, such as home elevations, flood proofing, acquisitions, and environmental restoration, the bill also provides an avenue to help middle-income and low-income property owners reduce their flood insurance premiums. It is a proposal that has been endorsed by over 200 local and national organizations, including the Pew Charitable Trusts, Association of State Floodplain Managers, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, the Property Casualty Insurance Association of America, the Nature Conservancy, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the U.S. Resiliency Council, and others.

Flooding is the most costly hazard facing American property owners. With increasing frequency we see news stories of catastrophic flooding in communities across the Nation. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, seven out of ten Presidential Disaster Declarations in the last ten years have involved flooding, and data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that there were 27 flooding disasters or hurricanes in the last decade that each caused more than $1 billion in damage.

But the increase in major flooding disasters has also been accompanied by increases in nuisance, urban, and high tide flooding events, which don't trigger the full complement of Federal disaster assistance but are devastating to every homeowner and community that is affected.

Experts agree that the best way to reduce the cost of flooding is to engage in proactive, not reactive, flood mitigation. The National Institute of Building Sciences' 2018 Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves study found that every Federal dollar spent on up-front mitigation provides $6 in national benefits, and investments in flood mitigation yield $7 in benefits per dollar spent. This is the kind of saving the State Flood Mitigation Revolving Fund Act seeks to promote and leverage.

Modeled on the successful Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, this bill creates a straightforward and easily accessible program through which States can offer low-interest loans to property owners and communities who want to mitigate their flood risk. By creating a revolving fund, the bill will allow States to design and more efficiently implement their own flood mitigation strategies provided that such strategies help achieve Federal objectives such as reducing disaster payments.

Within this construct, the bill gives States the flexibility to undertake flood mitigation projects expeditiously. The bill requires States to provide matching funds and gives them the ability to further leverage Federal dollars, as many already do under the drinking water and clean water SRF programs.

Additionally, the bill ensures mitigation assistance is focused on where the flood risk is greatest and where people are most vulnerable. The bill requires states to prioritize mitigation assistance for low- income homeowners and geographic areas, pre-FIRM buildings, and severe repetitive loss and repetitive loss buildings. Finally, it gives states the option of providing additional subsidization for low-income property-owners and communities that simply do not have the wherewithal to assume additional debt.

Mr. President, as we talk about appropriate investments in infrastructure, mitigation is one place where we should be investing. I invite the rest of our colleagues to join me, Senator Kennedy, and Senator Menendez in supporting this bipartisan legislation.

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