A Hawai‘i senator has co-introduced a bill that would improve flood resiliency among federal infrastructure projects.
Sen. Brian Schatz introduced — alongside New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen — last week the Federal Flood Risk Management Act, a measure that imposes flood safety standards upon any infrastructure project that receives federal funding.
As written, the measure states that any federally funded project must include, where practicable, design elements such as elevating the structure above the floodplain, flood protection measures for any structure in a floodplain, markings on structures delineating the high water levels of past floods in the area, and more.
These standards were initially established via an executive order by President Barack Obama in 2015, but President Donald Trump rescinded that order with his own executive order in 2017. President Joe Biden, in turn, reinstated the standards via another executive order in 2021, and Trump re-rescinded them in 2025 with yet another executive order.
The bill, therefore, codifies the standards into federal law, rather than continuing the presidential back-and-forth.
“Extreme weather is becoming more frequent and more severe in Hawai‘i and across the country, and it’s taking a huge toll on our infrastructure,” Schatz said upon the bill’s introduction. “Our bill will help ensure that federally-funded infrastructure is built to be more resilient to the impact of floods and other disasters.”
The measure has been referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Meanwhile, the Senate also passed last week a measure improving wildfire mitigation efforts on federal land.
The Cross-Boundary Wildfire Solutions Act requires the government to review all existing federal programs and rules to determine whether they impede a federal agency’s ability to work with local governments to mitigate wildfires across the boundaries between federal and non-federal lands.
The Senate voted unanimously to pass the bill, which now sits before the House.
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