HR0500 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0500 LRB096 13186 AJT 27759 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The federal government is required to provide sixty percent match funds for engineering and construction for levee repair; and

WHEREAS, Metro East levees cannot be repaired to meet Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Army Corps of Engineering engineering and construction standards without timely federal match monies; and

WHEREAS, Unless the Metro East levees are brought up to FEMA's 100-year flood prevention levels, homeowners and business will be forced to purchase expensive flood insurance; and

WHEREAS, The future growth of commercial and business development in the Mississippi Bottoms will cease entirely if expensive flood insurance and new regulations are mandated; and

WHEREAS, The Army Corps of Engineering will not have available match funding for county bond monies to complete the required engineering and construction of levee repair until 2044; and

WHEREAS, FEMA has refused to acknowledge the locally sponsored efforts to repair the various levees and the successful operating procedures to mitigate seepage problems by granting an administrative provisional certificate; and

WHEREAS, Missouri levees bordering the Mississippi River were held to a much less stringent standard for 100-year flood prevention; and

WHEREAS, In order to accelerate the engineering and construction schedule to 2014, the three flood prevention districts would have to generate an additional $400,000,000; and

WHEREAS, The flood prevention districts have received advice to seek the funding from the State of Illinois Capital Budget; and

WHEREAS, The State Capital Budget has not designated any funding for the Mississippi Bottoms levee repair; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois deems the repair of levees throughout Illinois as a local and federal responsibility; and

WHEREAS, The three Metro East flood prevention districts are in the process of bonding for approximately $100,000,000 for the local match for levee repair and have no additional capacity to fund the historically required federal share for meeting the 100-year flood prevention requirements mandated by FEMA; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the federal government to provide the necessary funding to meet FEMA requirements to repair the Metro East levees, and that funding ($400,000,000) be provided in such a manner that substantial repair work can be completed by 2014; and be it further

RESOLVED, That if funding cannot be provided in a timely manner to meet the engineering and construction requirements by 2014, we urge the federal government to provide that FEMA be required to provide provisional certification to the existing levee system in the Mississippi Bottoms until such match funds are made available; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the President, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, and the members of the Illinois congressional delegation.