The Flood Protection and Infrastructure Resilience Act of 2023 would enable agricultural producers and rural communities to lead on innovative solutions that address flooding at the regional and watershed levels. By advancing flood solutions at the watershed level, agricultural producers along with local communities, states, and the federal government are best positioned to save lives, manage risk, and protect property. S.3147 opens the door for communities to consider long-term resilience options while recovering from a flood disaster, unlocks assistance for communities in limited-resource areas to strengthen aging infrastructure, and provides greater flexibility and support for producers, communities, and nongovernmental stakeholders to address regional flooding issues together.

The Flood Protection and Infrastructure Resilience Act would:

• Improve flexibility in the NRCS Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program by allowing project sponsors to use federal funds to improve flood protection above the level that existed at the time of the disaster. Current rules state that federal funding can only be used to repair a structure to the condition it was at during the time of disaster, meaning that resources cannot be targeted to prevent repetitive losses during future flood events
• Increase the federal cost share for the NRCS Watershed Rehabilitation Program up to 90% for communities and projects in limited-resource areas. For many rural and low-resource communities, a 65% local cost share requirement poses a significant barrier that prevents them from initiating rehabilitation of aged, high-hazard dams, presenting a significant risk to agricultural production and rural communities. An increased federal cost share would allow local project sponsors greater access to federal resources to initiate rehabilitation work.
• Add flood prevention to the statutory purpose of the NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). While RCPP already supports some activities that reduce flooding, the program’s federal authorization does not explicitly mention flood prevention or mitigation as a key purpose. H.R. 3972 would enhance RCPP by incorporating flood prevention alongside other important objectives like soil health, water quality, and wildlife conservation.