Vermont Senate advances Flood Safety Act after extended debate; appropriations strip most funding

The Vermont Senate on the floor advanced S213, the Flood Safety Act, after an extended, hours-long series of presentations and debate that ranged from mapping river corridors to transferring jurisdiction over a subset of dams.

Senator from Addison, presenting the bill, said the legislation responds to the July floods and ongoing flood risk and described tasks that include statewide mapping, a public outreach period, a schedule for rulemaking, and reporting back to the Legislature on progress. "The total cost of July 12th was approximately $1,000,000,000," the senator said, framing the bill as a state-level response to a disaster that crossed municipal boundaries.

Why it matters: S213 would create mandated statewide river-corridor mapping, require the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to adopt flood-hazard standards that meet or exceed FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) requirements, and direct the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to produce outreach and planning documents before rulemaking. The bill also includes wetlands protections (a statutory "net-gain" approach requiring a 2:1 restoration ratio for significant impacts) and a multi-part dam-safety package…