Collapse to view only § 3305. Authorization of appropriations
- § 3301. Definitions
- § 3302. Committee on Levee Safety
- § 3303. Inventory and inspection of levees
- Levee safety initiative
- § 3303b. Reports
- § 3304. Limitations on statutory construction
- § 3305. Authorization of appropriations
- § 3306. Certain levee improvements
- § 3307. Assessment of Corps of Engineers levees
The term “Administrator” means the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The term “canal structure” does not include a barrier across a watercourse.
The term “committee” means the Committee on Levee Safety established by section 3302(a) of this title.
The term “floodplain management” means the operation of a community program of corrective and preventative measures for reducing flood damage.
The term “Indian tribe” has the meaning given the term in section 5304 of title 25.
The term “national levee database” means the levee database established under section 3303 of this title.
The term “participating program” means a levee safety program developed by a State, regional district, or Indian tribe that includes the minimum components necessary for recognition by the Secretary.
The term “regional district” means a subdivision of a State government, or a subdivision of multiple State governments, that is authorized to acquire, construct, operate, and maintain projects for the purpose of flood damage reduction.
The term “rehabilitation” means the repair, replacement, reconstruction, removal of a levee, or reconfiguration of a levee system, including a setback levee, that is carried out to reduce flood risk, increase resiliency to extreme weather events, or meet national levee safety guidelines.
The term “rehabilitation” includes improvements to a levee in conjunction with any repair, replacement, reconstruction, or reconfiguration.
The term “risk” means a measure of the probability and severity of undesirable consequences.
The term “State levee safety agency” means the agency of a State that has regulatory authority over the safety of any non-Federal levee in the State.
The term “United States”, when used in a geographical sense, means all of the States.
There is established a committee to be known as the “Committee on Levee Safety”.
A voting member of the committee may be reappointed to the committee, as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
A vacancy on the committee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment was made.
The voting members of the committee shall appoint a chairperson from among the voting members of the committee.
The chairperson shall serve a term of not more than 2 years.
The committee may establish standing committees comprised of volunteers from all levels of government and the private sector, to advise the committee regarding specific levee safety issues, including participating programs, technical issues, public education and awareness, and safety and the environment.
The committee shall recommend to the Secretary for approval individuals for membership on the standing committees.
The committee shall, to the maximum extent practicable, coordinate the activities of the committee with the Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force.
To the extent amounts are made available to carry out this section in appropriations Acts, the Secretary shall provide to each member of the committee who is not an officer or employee of the United States a stipend and a per diem allowance for travel expenses, at rates authorized for an employee of an agency under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, while away from the home or regular place of business of the member in performance of services for the committee.
Each member of a standing committee shall serve in a voluntary capacity.
Chapter 10 of title 5 shall not apply to the committee.
Not later than 1 year after December 16, 2016, the Secretary shall establish and maintain a database with an inventory of the Nation’s levees.
The Secretary shall make all of the information in the database available to appropriate Federal, State, regional, tribal, and local governmental agencies.
The Secretary shall make the information in the database described in paragraph (2)(A), and such other information in the database as the Secretary determines appropriate, available to the public.
The Secretary, at Federal expense, shall establish an inventory and conduct an inspection of all federally owned and operated levees.
The Secretary shall establish an inventory and conduct an inspection of all federally constructed, non-federally operated and maintained levees, at the original cost share for the project.
For non-Federal levees the owners of which are participating in the emergency response to natural disasters program established under section 701n of this title, the Secretary shall establish an inventory and conduct an inspection of each such levee if the owner of the levee requests such inspection. The Federal share of the cost of an inspection under this paragraph shall be 65 percent.
The Secretary shall carry out a one-time inventory and review of all levees identified in the national levee database.
The inventory and inspection under paragraph (1) does not create a Federal interest in the construction, operation, or maintenance of any levee that is included in the inventory or inspected under this subsection.
In carrying out the inventory and review, the Secretary shall use the levee safety action classification criteria to determine whether a levee should be classified in the inventory as requiring a more comprehensive inspection.
In carrying out the inventory and review under this subsection, the Secretary shall not be required to review any levee that has been inspected by a State, regional district, or Indian tribe using the same methodology described in paragraph (3) during the 1-year period immediately preceding June 10, 2014, if the Governor of the State or chief executive of the regional district or tribal government, as applicable, requests an exemption from the review.
In identifying deficiencies and describing remedies for a levee under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consult with relevant non-Federal interests, including by providing an opportunity for comment by those non-Federal interests.
The Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator, shall carry out a levee safety initiative.
The policies, procedures, standards, and criteria under paragraph (1)(B) shall be developed taking into consideration the levee hazard potential classification system established under subsection (d).
To the maximum extent practicable, all Federal agencies shall consider the levee safety guidelines in carrying out activities relating to the management of levees.
The Secretary shall establish a hazard potential classification system for use under the levee safety initiative and participating programs.
The Secretary shall review and, as necessary, revise the hazard potential classification system not less frequently than once every 5 years.
The hazard potential classification system established pursuant to this subsection shall be consistent with and incorporated into the levee safety action classification tool developed by the Corps of Engineers.
The Secretary shall enter into an agreement with each State receiving technical assistance under this subsection to develop a work plan necessary for the State levee safety program of that State to reach a level of program performance that meets the guidelines established under subsection (c)(1).
The Secretary, in coordination with the Administrator, shall carry out public education and awareness efforts relating to the levee safety initiative.
Not later than 1 year after December 16, 2016, in consultation with the Administrator, the Secretary shall issue guidelines that establish the minimum components necessary for recognition of a State, regional, or tribal levee safety program as a participating program.
The Administrator may provide assistance, subject to the availability of funding specified in appropriations Acts for Federal Emergency Management Agency activities pursuant to this chapter and subject to amounts available under subparagraph (E), to States, regional districts, and Indian tribes in establishing participating programs, conducting levee inventories, and improving levee safety programs in accordance with subparagraph (B).
Not later than 1 year after June 10, 2014, the Administrator shall implement quantifiable performance measures and metrics to assess the effectiveness of the assistance provided in accordance with subparagraph (A).
Technical assistance or grants may not be provided to a State under this subsection during a fiscal year unless the State enters into an agreement with the Administrator to ensure that the State will maintain during that fiscal year aggregate expenditures for programs to ensure levee safety that equal or exceed the average annual level of such expenditures for the State for the 2 fiscal years preceding that fiscal year.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this subsection $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2028.
The amounts allocated to a State, regional district, or Indian tribe under this subparagraph shall not exceed 50 percent of the reasonable cost of implementing the State, regional, or tribal levee safety program.
No amounts made available to the Administrator under this chapter shall be used for levee construction, rehabilitation, repair, operations, or maintenance.
The Secretary shall provide assistance to States, regional districts, Indian tribes, and local governments relating to addressing flood mitigation and levee rehabilitation activities that result in an overall reduction in flood risk.
Not later than 1 year after the date of execution of a project agreement for assistance under this subsection, a State, regional district, Indian tribe, or local government shall prepare a floodplain management plan in accordance with the guidelines under subparagraph (D) to reduce the impacts of future flood events in each applicable leveed area.
Not later than 1 year after the date of completion of construction of the applicable project, a floodplain management plan prepared under subparagraph (A) shall be implemented.
Not later than 180 days after December 16, 2016, the Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator, shall develop such guidelines for the preparation of floodplain management plans prepared under this paragraph as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
The Secretary may provide technical support for the development and implementation of floodplain management plans prepared under this paragraph.
A contract for assistance provided under this subsection shall not be considered to confer any proprietary interest on the United States.
The maximum Federal share of the cost of any assistance provided under this subsection shall be 65 percent.
The maximum amount of Federal assistance for a project under this subsection shall be $25,000,000.
A project shall not receive Federal assistance under this subsection more than 1 time.
For a project that is not a project eligible for rehabilitation assistance under section 701n of this title, the Secretary shall determine that the proposed rehabilitation is in the Federal interest prior to providing assistance for such rehabilitation.
Assistance provided under this subsection shall be subject to all applicable laws (including regulations) that apply to the construction of a civil works project of the Corps of Engineers.
To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall prioritize the provision of assistance under this subsection to economically disadvantaged communities (as defined by the Secretary under section 160 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (33 U.S.C. 2201 note)), including economically disadvantaged communities located in urban and rural areas.
Each report under paragraph (1) shall include a report of the committee that describes the independent recommendations of the committee for the implementation of the levee safety initiative.
Not later than 3 years after June 10, 2014, to the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary and the Administrator, in coordination with the committee, shall submit to Congress and make publicly available a report that includes recommendations regarding the advisability and feasibility of, and potential approaches for, establishing a joint national dam and levee safety program.
Notwithstanding section 211 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (31 U.S.C. 6505 note), the Secretary, at the request of a local government, is authorized to provide technical services, on a reimbursable basis, to the local government to assess the reasons a federally constructed levee owned or operated by the local government is not accredited by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In carrying out this section, in a case in which a levee owned and operated by the Secretary is hydraulically tied to a levee described in subsection (a), the Secretary is encouraged to cooperate, to the maximum extent practicable, with the relevant local governmental entities in assessing the reasons the levee described in subsection (a) is not accredited.
The Secretary shall ensure that an assessment under subsection (a) shall be similar in cost and scope to an initial assessment prepared by the Secretary pursuant to section 549a of this title.
In conducting an assessment under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consider information on floods and flood damages compiled under section 709a of this title.
Not later than 18 months after December 23, 2022, and periodically thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate a report on the results of the assessments conducted under subsection (a).
The Secretary shall include in the levee database established under section 3303 of this title the information included in each report submitted under subsection (e), and make such information publicly available (including on a publicly available website).
In this section, the term “levee system” has the meaning given that term in section 3301(9) of this title.
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000, to remain available until expended.