Local flood agencies urge steady funding and expanded subvention support to keep levees eligible for federal help

Local flood agencies and reclamation districts told the Assembly they are the daily line of defense against flooding and that chronic underfunding of maintenance and project programs increases both safety risks and long-term costs.

Tom Engler, engineer for the Central Valley Flood Control Association, summarized the Central Valley's history of debris and levee construction and reiterated the plan-level estimates in the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan. "Consistent funding identified will provide for various programs to help us and our partners advance our goals," Engler said, and he urged the Legislature to increase annual routine budgets and to support a flood-specific bond.

Megan Nagy, general manager for Reclamation District 108 and Sacramento-area levee districts, described on-the-ground operations. She said the state's flood maintenance assistance funding enabled critical deferred-maintenance work and helped maintain federal rehabilitation eligibility; she noted that no funding was available for the program in 2025. "In my district alone, we received over $30,000,000 in federal rehabilitation assistance since 2017," Nagy said, noting that failure to meet federal standards jeopardizes federal aid after disasters.

Why this matters: Many federal programs and rehabilitation grants require that local levees meet inspection and maintenance standards; when standards lapse, local authorities may lose access to federal reconstruction funding and recovery support.

Details from testimony

- Program eligibility and process: DWR testified and local agencies explained that federal authorization, state authorization (legislative inclusion in the water code), and state-local cost-share agreements are typical prerequisites for subventions and federal-state projects.

- Deferred maintenance backlog: Speakers described routine operations (rodent control, bank repairs, pipe crossings, vegetation management) as essential for federal eligibility. Failure to maintain facilities can make systems ineligible for federal rehabilitation assistance.

- Funding evidence: Witnesses said recent budgets had provided years with $200'$300 million for routine flood programs but that the governor's most recent proposed cut reduced that to about $120 million. Engler said the plan identifies a roughly $380 million annual need (other witnesses cited $1 billion/year for Central Valley plan implementation); overall plan needs were discussed in the tens of billions over decades.

Ending

Local maintaining agencies urged the Legislature to restore and stabilize baseline funding for maintenance programs such as the Flood Maintenance Assistance Program, to support future flood-specific bonds, and to preserve subventions pathways that leverage federal dollars.