FFRMS Still in Effect Following Trump’s Executive Order, For Now

Among the flurry of executive orders signed by President Trump on his first day in office yesterday was the revocation of Executive Order 14030, the Climate-Related Financial Risk EO signed by President Biden May 20, 2021. 

President Biden’s EO 14030 reinstated EO 13630, which established the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS).  Although President Trump’s recent executive order has the practical effect of rescinding EO13690, as of right now, it’s ASFPM’s understanding that both FEMA’s and HUD’s rules for implementing the FFRMS are still in effect and will remain so until any potential rulemaking is undertaken to undo it. That is a process that would take at least a year. Until then, we will continue to have a partial implementation of FFRMS from those two agencies and their programs. 

We know this is confusing for members and ASFPM anticipated this very scenario leading up to the inauguration. A few weeks ago, we reached out to FEMA and HUD asking if they were planning on any guidance to help floodplain managers navigate the uncertainty of whether Trump’s EO rescinded FFRMS. Both agencies wanted to wait to see what happened first.  We are hopeful that clarifying guidance will come out soon. We will share more information as we receive it.