[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5722 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5722

  To require the Corps of Engineers to update Upper Mississippi River 
     levee and floodwall design standards, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 26, 2023

 Mrs. Miller of Illinois (for herself, Mr. Bost, Mr. Sorensen, and Mr. 
   LaHood) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Corps of Engineers to update Upper Mississippi River 
     levee and floodwall design standards, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER LEVEE AND FLOODWALL DESIGN 
              STANDARDS.

    (a) Updates Required.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out the Upper Mississippi 
        River levee and floodwall projects, the Secretary of the Army, 
        acting through the Chief of Engineers, shall not less 
        frequently than every 20 years update the design probabilities 
        used to establish the design profiles for levees and 
        floodwalls, using the most recent probabilities and flood 
        frequency profiles and current appropriate factors of safety as 
        needed for wave action, settlement, other existing and 
        anticipated future uncertainties, and Federal Emergency 
        Management Agency guidelines to maintain accreditations.
            (2) Contents.--In updating the design probabilities under 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary shall obtain public input at each 
        stage of development, including base elevation data, base 
        hydrological and hydraulic assumptions, and shall utilize a 
        public involvement group for meaningful public engagement 
        throughout the development of the updated flood frequency 
        profiles.
    (b) Uniform Flood Protection.--Local sponsors of the Upper 
Mississippi River levee and floodwall projects in paragraph (b) may 
maintain flood protection at levels consistent with the profiles 
established under subsection (a) such that--
            (1) the maintenance for Uniform Flood Protection is hereby 
        deemed as not injurious to the federally authorized flood 
        protection project, and no change in risk transfer from 
        original Corps of Engineers probability-based design, and 
        previously approved alterations approved pursuant to section 
        208.10 of title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, prior to 33 
        USC 408 EC 1165-2-216 dated 31, July 2014;
            (2) alterations to the Upper Mississippi River levee and 
        floodwall projects made prior to July 31, 2014, having met the 
        standard established by section 208.10 of title 33, Code of 
        Federal Regulations, are hereby federally authorized;
            (3) repairs made by the United States of America pursuant 
        to section 5 of the Flood Control Act of 1941 (33 U.S.C. 701n) 
        shall be consistent with the most recent probabilities and 
        flood frequency profiles and appropriate factors of safety;
            (4) maintenance under this section shall include local 
        sponsor alteration or improvement of the Upper Mississippi 
        River levee and floodwall projects to the prior approved level 
        of protection using the profiles established under subsection 
        (a);
            (5) maintenance to meet current flood frequency profiles 
        shall be within section 208.10 of title 33, Code of Federal 
        Regulations, and coordinated with the local sponsor's 
        respective St. Louis or Rock Island Corps of Engineers 
        District, to preserve the existing and prior approved systemic 
        flood damage reduction planning, in general of rural areas 
        protected to the 2 percent probability event, districts 
        protecting combination urban, critical infrastructure, and 
        rural areas at 1 percent and districts protecting highly 
        industrial or all urban at 0.2 percent levels, as prior Corps 
        of Engineers approved; and
            (6) maintenance to meet current flood frequency profiles 
        are voluntary and shall be the local sponsor's responsibility 
        at local sponsor's cost.
    (c) Project Defined.--In this section, the term ``Upper Mississippi 
River levee and floodwall projects'' means the federally authorized 
projects for flood protection on the Upper Mississippi River that 
include--
            (1) levees or floodwalls in the region from Hamburg, 
        Illinois, to Guttenberg, Iowa;
            (2) levees in the region from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to 
        Hamburg, Illinois; and
            (3) federally improved levees with local sponsors.
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