SB 511 - This act regulates development within flood plains. This bill is identical to the Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 167 (1997).

The major provisions of the act:

1. Create a Division of Flood Plain Management within the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA);

2. Require SEMA issued permits for developments within special flood hazard areas that do not have planning and zoning, or a permit from the jurisdiction affected if zoning ordinances exist;

3. Require SEMA to obtain comments from the Department of Natural Resources and Agriculture prior to issuing permits;

4. Mandate all state development, except transportation projects, to adhere to the standards of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP);

5. Eligibility for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) flood assistance will be restricted to communities participating in the NFIP and all relevant documentation for such funds are deemed public records that must be permanently maintained;

6. Designate any fraud or abuse in applications for flood assistance funds as a felony with investigative jurisdiction vested in the local prosecutor or the attorney general;

7. Require appraisers, real estate brokers and salesmen to disclose the relevant status of any property in relation to special flood hazard areas;

8. Direct pipeline levee crossings to be done in a specified manner that does not impact the structural integrity of the levee;

9. Necessitate that insurance policies must indicate whether coverage extends to loss caused by floods;

10. Compel the Division to work with the Corps of Engineers to establish 20, 100 and 500 year flood level maps;

11. Allow levee districts to enter into agreements to not rebuild any levee above the 20 year level in order to participate in the 20% cost-share Levee Tax Fund program (supplemented by the Soil and Water Sales and Use Tax Fund); and

12. Classify any levee built above the 500 year level as an industrial levee.
CHARLES HATCHER