ASFPM Legislative and Policy Plan for Calendar Year 2025
The year 2025 ushers in a period of change, challenge, and opportunity with the arrival of a new administration and the 119th Congress. With a Republican President, a Republican majority in the Senate, and a narrowly held Republican majority in the House of Representatives, the legislative agenda in Washington will likely center on advancing President Trump’s priorities, including the size and role of government, spending and budgets, energy production, immigration reform, and border security.
This transition also brings a special opportunity to engage and educate new lawmakers — whether newly elected to Congress or newly assigned to key committees — on the critical role of floodplain management and federal flood programs. Building relationships with these policymakers and their staff is essential to ensuring they understand the value of these programs in reducing flood risks, protecting lives and property, and supporting resilient communities nationwide.
Recognizing these dynamics, the ASFPM Policy Team has established the following priorities to guide our engagement with the 119th Congress and federal agencies throughout 2025: (Download PDF)
LEGISLATION
I. NFIP Reform: Work collaboratively with Congress to seek increased authorization of appropriations to support expedited completion of national flood mapping; enact flood insurance affordability measures; ensure a long-term sound financial framework; address the issues between NFIP and private insurance; increase the role of mitigation in managing flood risk; authorize and increase authorization of Community Assistance Program funding for states to no less than $20 million annually to better help communities manage and mitigate flood risk.
II. Stafford Reform – BRIC Reform: Work collaboratively with Congress to establish a state assistance program that provides base funding to states in order to build a base level of capacity to provide technical assistance to all communities accessing, applying for, and implementing mitigation grant funding programs; adjust the Stafford Act to include language to provide balanced access to the funds for state and local small-scale mitigation priorities in addition to large-scale infrastructure projects; recognize and reward other state and local mitigation efforts, such as higher floodplain management standards and enhanced state mitigation plans in grant scoring criteria; modernize and reform FEMA’s disaster assistance programs to be more efficient and to incentivize state and local actions to reduce disaster impacts; and reduce bureaucracy in the delivery of all Stafford Act-related mitigation programs, including when and how it is appropriate to use big data sets like the National Risk Index, modernize management costs, and delegate hazard mitigation programs to capable states.
III. FY2026 Appropriations: Seek maximum authorization of appropriations in FY2026 budgets for flood programs in federal government, including flood mapping ($800 million annually), technical assistance/capability programs at FEMA and the US Army Corps of Engineers, USGS 3_DEP and stream gaging, NOAA Atlas 15, and the Digital Coast. Significant cuts to most discretionary programs are expected, so advocacy and outreach will be tremendously important.
IV. Climate Resiliency: Where applicable, work with the Trump Administration and Congress to incorporate climate preparedness and adaptations into federal flood policies and programs.
V. Digital Coast: Work with NOAA and other Digital Coast partners to raise the need to reauthorize the Digital Coast Act in 2025, while seeking appropriations for the program in FY2026 and beyond. Work with Congress to seek bipartisan support for reauthorization. Update relevant appropriations committees on Digital Coast successes and need for viable appropriations in outgoing years.
VI. Farm Bill: Work with NGO partners and Congress to support conservation-related provisions and expansion of the availability and utilization of flood easements in the Farm Bill reauthorization.
AGENCY ACTIONS
I. New Agency Outreach: Seek to educate, inform, and advocate for federal flood programs at agencies as new appointees and staff are installed. Commit to ongoing communication to provide subject matter expertise on floodplain management and flood programs with the federal government. Continue to update our federal partners on flood risk management, mapping, and mitigation issues, and use of natural and nature-based approaches.
II. Better Flood Risk Management Standards for Federal Investments: While a new Executive Order will likely halt some agency work, we will continue to work with FEMA and HUD as they provide guidance and technical support to implement the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) and/or other measures to reduce the impact and cost of flooding on people and communities and protect federal infrastructure investments and other taxpayer-funded projects. We will also work with all relevant agencies to highlight the need for some type of standard that goes beyond the NFIP minimums.
III. Advisory Council Assistance. Actively engage with and provide information, assistance, and recommendations to the FEMA Review Council established by EO 14180. Promote activation and continuation of the FEMA Technical Mapping Advisory Council, the National Advisory Council, and other bodies providing technical and policy input on floodplain management.
IV. NFIP Minimum Standards: Actively participate in any potential rulemaking or other agency actions that may occur. Keep Congress informed on the importance of this effort and explain the need for stronger NFIP minimum standards.
V. Flood Insurance Affordability: Collaborate with organizational partners to continue to inform and educate consumers on changes to NFIP affordability; work with FEMA to improve the rate impact of flood mitigation measures so that we continue to incentivize mitigation grant programs, land-use standards, and NFIP policy retention. Continue to provide input to FEMA on the mitigation discount estimator tool and other informational outputs.
VI. Disclosure Issues: Promote meaningful flood disclosure law requirements and support incentives for states to adopt such laws; work to overcome issues related to Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and NFIP claims data, as well as other data sharing (such as public official information), while maintaining personal data security.
VII. Precipitation Updates: Work with NOAA and other partners to ensure timely updates to nationwide rainfall frequency data, including data and estimates that reflect future conditions (Atlas 15) and extreme precipitation methodology (PMP).
VIII. National Levee Safety Programs: Work with agencies responsible for implementation of the National Levee Safety Program to provide effective guidance for states to implement or improve state Levee Safety Programs.
IX. Corps of Engineers WRDA 2024. Work with the Army Corps of Engineers, especially across their Continuing Authorities (CA) programs, to develop early implementation guidance and direction for CA and other new authorizations.
X. Federal Agency Rulemaking: Participate in relevant opportunities to respond to the federal rulemaking process, including Floodplain Management Standards, Community Rating System redesign, Individual Assistance, Principles, Rules & Guidelines, and others that arise.
STATE WORK
I. State Issues that Arise: When requested, assist individual states on issues impacting them. Continue to track currently identified state issues and update members as needed.
II. State Higher Development Standards: Encourage states and communities to adopt development standards similar to those in the HUD and FEMA FFRMS rules.
RELATIONSHIPS
I. Maintain Involvement in Current Coalitions, Caucuses, and Working Groups: Continue to represent ASFPM issues and priorities at all current affiliation meetings. Update/create MOUs as appropriate with NGOs and agency partners. Current priorities include Stafford Coalition and Flood Map Coalition and informal coalitions of NGOs concerned with floodplain management and natural and beneficial functions.
II. Increase Opportunities to Leverage Efforts with Other Professional Groups: Engage with additional professional coalitions, alliances, and working groups with whom ASFPM shares interests to amplify efforts to address, protect, and improve federal flood policies and programs, including the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), American Planning Association (APA), American Flood Coalition (AFC), and the National Association of Wetland Managers (NAWM). We also will continue to strengthen partnerships with BuildStrong America, Flood Mitigation Industry Association, and the Coastal States Organization.
III. Develop Relationships with Additional Federal Agencies: Engage with additional agencies with whom we have limited or no recent interaction, such as HUD, the Small Business Administration (SBA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Department of Transportation (DOT), General Services Administration (GSA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to increase ASFPM’s partnerships at the federal level to spur agency collaboration to reduce flood risk.
