S. 1481: Urban Flooding Awareness Act of 2015

114th Congress · introduced 2015-06-02 · Emergency Management · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S3674; text of measure as introduced: CR S3458-3459)

federal

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Where it came from: introduced 2015-06-02 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S3674; text of measure as introduced: CR S3458-3459) Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Urban Flooding Awareness Act of 2015

Plain summary

Urban Flooding Awareness Act of 2015 Directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study on urban flooding. Defines "urban flooding" as the inundation of property in a built environment, particularly in more densely populated areas, caused by rain falling on increased amounts of impervious surface and overwhelming the capacity of drainage systems. Requires the primary focus of the study to be on urban areas outside of special flood hazard areas. Directs the NAS to evaluate the latest research, laws, regulations, policies, best practices, procedures, and institutional knowledge regarding urban flooding. Requires the study to include an examination of: the prevalence of and costs associated with urban flooding events across the United States, with a focus on the largest metropolitan areas and trends in frequency and severity over the past two decades; the adequacy of federally provided flood risk information and the most cost-effective methods and products to characterize the risk of property damage from urban flooding on a property-by-property basis; the potential for training and certifying local experts in flood risk characterization as a service to property purchasers and owners; the causes of urban flooding and its apparent increase; the most cost-effective strategies, practices, technologies, policies, standards, or rules used to reduce the impacts of urban flooding; the role of the federal and state governments in spurring market innovations based on public-private-nonprofit partnerships; the most sustainable and effective methods for funding flood risk and flood damage reduction at all levels of government; the relevance of the National Flood Insurance Program and Community Rating System to urban flooding areas outside traditional flood plains and strategies for improving compliance, broadening coverage, and increasing participation under the Program; strategies for protecting communities in the lower elevations of a watershed or drainage area from the flooding impacts of development in upstream communities; cost-effective strategies for reducing infiltration/inflow into combined and separate sewer systems; and opportunities to increase coordination between stormwater management programming under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and flood risk management and mitigation programming under various laws.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Urban Flooding Awareness Act of 2015

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] · 1 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

Sponsor's campaign money: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] reported raising $84,084 (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (1)

Rulemaking: The process agencies use to write regulations that carry out laws passed by Congress or a legislature. Usually an agency publishes a proposed rule, takes public comments, then publishes a final rule.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-114s1481.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/s>

Record fed-us-cong114-s1481 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong114 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong114