Resilience advocates urge committee to boost MVP authorization to $500 million

Multiple witnesses urged the Joint Committee on Bonding to increase the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) authorization in S.2542 from the administration's $315 million proposal to $500 million.

Nasir Rahim of the Mystic River Watershed Association, speaking for the MVP coalition, said the program is "the crowning jewel of our state's climate resilience efforts" and stressed that MVP's flexible grants address locally defined hazards through planning and project grants. He and coalition partners noted that MVP has been distributed regionally and that demand outstrips available dollars; they said the program typically receives more than $100 million in applications with only a fraction funded each year.

Advocates argued that boosting MVP would allow more communities—particularly gateway and environmental justice communities—to turn planning into shovel‑ready projects that match eligibility for the proposed resilience revolving fund and SRF loans. Several municipal and regional witnesses testified that MVP projects have prevented or reduced local flood and heat impacts and that additional funds would be cost‑effective in avoided damages.