National Flood Insurance Program. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provides flood insurance to property owners, renters, and businesses to reduce the economic impacts of floods. The NFIP is a public-private partnership between the federal government, the property and casualty insurance industry, states, local officials, lending institutions, and property owners.
 
Floodplain Management. The Department of Ecology (Ecology) is responsible for coordinating floodplain management regulations of the NFIP. Counties and incorporated cities are required to adopt floodplain management ordinances that comply with the minimum standards set forth in the NFIP and state statute. Floodplain management ordinances may restrict development in floodways and require flood resistant or floodproofed buildings in flood-prone areas. Jurisdictions required to adopt floodplain management ordinances must submit any new ordinances or amendments to existing ordinances to Ecology.
 
Ecology may disapprove any ordinance or amendment if it finds the ordinance or amendment does not comply with:

• the restriction of land uses within designated floodways, including the prohibition of construction or reconstruction, repair, or replacement of residential structures, except for:
  1. repairs, reconstruction, or improvements to a structure which do not increase the ground floor area;
  2. repairs, reconstruction, or improvements to a structure the cost of which does not exceed 50 percent of the market value of the structure either before the repair is started or, if the structure has been damaged, before the damage occurred; and
• the minimum requirements of the national flood insurance program; and
• the minimum state requirements adopted under the floodplain management program that are applicable to a particular county, city, or town.

Ecology, at the request of a local jurisdiction, may assess the risk of harm to life and property posed by specific conditions of the floodway, and may exercise best professional judgement in recommending to the permitting authority the repair, replacement, or relocation of damaged structures. Ecology's recommendation to allow repair or replacement of a substantially damaged residential structure within the designated floodway is a waiver of the floodway prohibition.

The Office of Chehalis Basin. Legislation in 2016 created the Office of Chehalis Basin within Ecology. Its purpose is to aggressively pursue implementation of an integrated strategy and to administer funding for long-term flood damage reduction and aquatic species restoration in the Chehalis River Basin. The Chehalis Board is created and is responsible for the oversight of a long-term strategy to reduce flood damage and restore aquatic species habitat in the Chehalis Basin. The strategy must include a detailed set of actions, an implementation schedule, and quantified measures to evaluate success.

The bill as referred to committee not considered.

The prohibition of construction or reconstruction, repair, or replacement of residential structures within designated floodways does not apply to dry or wet floodproofing improvements to residential structures undertaken in accordance with the Chehalis Basin Strategy.

Ecology's recommendation to allow repair or replacement of a substantially damaged residential structure within the designated floodway is a waiver of the floodway prohibition and also applies to proposed projects that substantially improve residential structures for the primary purpose of reducing risk of flood damage.