33 U.S.C. § 467f–2 — Rehabilitation of high hazard potential dams

(a) Establishment of program^* The Administrator^* must set up, inside FEMA^*, a program that gives states with dam^* safety programs grants for technical help, planning, design, and construction, to fix up eligible "high hazard potential" dams.

(b) Eligible activities A state's grant can be used to make sub-grants to eligible recipients for: (1) repairing a dam; (2) removing a dam; or (3) any other structural or nonstructural fix to rehabilitate an eligible high-hazard dam.

(c) Award of grants (1) Application: (A) In general — an interested state^* may apply to the Administrator for a grant. (B) Requirements — the application must be submitted the way, in the form, and with the information the Administrator sets by regulation. (2) Grant: (A) In general — the Administrator may award a grant, under this section's rules, to a state that applies properly. (B) Grant agreement — the Administrator and the state sign an agreement setting the grant's terms, the projects it covers, and the grant amount. (C) Grant assurance — as part of that agreement, the Administrator must require that every sub-recipient getting money get a promise from the dam's owner that the owner will maintain the dam for its expected remaining life. (D) Limitation — a state can't give a sub-recipient, for any one dam, more than the lesser of (i) 12.5% of all the funds available for this section, or (ii) $7,500,000.

(d) Requirements (1) Approval: a project's grant must be approved by the relevant state dam safety agency^*. (2) Eligible sub-recipient requirements: to get a grant, a sub-recipient must, for the dam being fixed: (A) show that the community where the dam sits takes part in, and follows, all applicable federal flood insurance programs — including being an active, non-probation, non-suspended participant in the National Flood Insurance Program; (B) starting no later than 2 years after the Administrator publishes the hazard-mitigation-plan criteria under (3), show that the tribal or local government over the dam's area has a hazard mitigation plan that (i) covers all dam risks, and (ii) follows the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000; (C) for a project that isn't removal, get the dam owner's commitment to operate and maintain the project for the dam's expected remaining life after rehabilitation^*; (D) meet minimum eligibility rules the Administrator sets, to make sure every dam owner or operator in a participating state program who gets this help (i) follows the state dam safety program^*, and (ii) carries out public-facing activities around the dam per the hazard mitigation plan in (B); and (E) follow section 5196(j)(9) of title 42 (as it read on December 16, 2016) for projects getting this help, the same way recipients must follow it to get financial help from the Administrator for emergency preparedness. (3) Hazard mitigation plan criteria: within 1 year of December 27, 2020, the Administrator, with the Board^*, must publish the criteria for hazard mitigation plans required under (2)(B).

(e) Floodplain management plans (1) In general: to get this help, a sub-recipient must show it has a floodplain management plan reducing future flood harm from a controlled or uncontrolled release from the dam, or from managing water levels in the dam's impact area — (A) for a removal project: (i) the plan must already be in place, and (ii) it must identify areas affected by removing the dam and include a plan for communicating and reaching out to affected communities; or (B) for a project that isn't removal: (i) the plan is already in place, or (ii) it will be (I) developed within 2 years of signing the project agreement, and (II) put into action within 2 years of finishing construction. (2) Requirement: for a removal plan, the Administrator can't add any requirements beyond what's in (1)(A). (3) Inclusions: a plan under (1)(B) must cover (A) ways to reduce deaths, injuries, property and facility damage, public spending, and other flood harm in the dam's protected or affected area; (B) plans for fighting floods and evacuating people; and (C) educating the public about flood risks. (4) Plan criteria and technical support: the Administrator, with the Board, must provide criteria — and may give technical support — for building and carrying out these floodplain plans.

(f) Priority system The Administrator, with the Board, must build a risk-based system for ranking which eligible high-hazard dams get grants under this section.

(g) Funding (1) Cost sharing: (A) In general — except as (C) says, any help under this section for a project needs a non-federal cost share of at least 35%. (B) In-kind contributions — that non-federal share can be paid through in-kind (non-cash) contributions. (C) Underserved communities — the 35% rule doesn't apply to a project carried out by or for an underserved community^*. (2) Allocation of funds: each year's total funds are split: (A) Equal distribution — one-third split equally among the states with projects applied for under (c)(1); (B) Need-based — two-thirds split among those states based on the share of (i) the state's eligible high-hazard dams, compared to (ii) all eligible high-hazard dams in all those states.

(h) Use of funds None of the money from this section can be used: (1) to rehabilitate a federal dam; (2) for routine operation or maintenance of a dam; (3) to change a dam to make hydroelectric power; (4) to add water-storage capacity; or (5) for any other dam change that doesn't also improve its safety.

(i) Contractual requirements (1) In general: for a grant over $1,000,000, subject to (2), a sub-recipient must award every contract and subcontract for program management, construction management, planning studies, feasibility studies, architecture, preliminary engineering, design, engineering, surveying, mapping, and related services, using grant money, the same way architectural and engineering services contracts are awarded — either under (A) chapter 11 of title 40, or (B) an equal qualifications-based rule the state sets. (2) No proprietary interest: a contract awarded this way doesn't give the United States any ownership stake.

(j) Authorization of appropriations Congress authorized: (1) $10,000,000 for FY2017 and FY2018; (2) $25,000,000 for FY2019; (3) $40,000,000 for FY2020; and (4) $60,000,000 for each of FY2021 through FY2026.