[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 121 (Thursday, July 18, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4953-S4954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Menendez):
  S. 2192. A bill to amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to 
allow the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 
provide capitalization grants to States to establish revolving funds to 
provide funding assistance to reduce flood risks, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  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

[[Page S4954]]

should be investing. I invite the rest of our colleagues to join me, 
Senator Kennedy, and Senator Menendez in supporting this bipartisan 
legislation.

                          ____________________