HR0500 LRB096 13186 AJT 27759 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The federal government is required to provide
3 sixty percent match funds for engineering and construction for
4 levee repair; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Metro East levees cannot be repaired to meet
6 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Army Corps of
7 Engineering engineering and construction standards without
8 timely federal match monies; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Unless the Metro East levees are brought up to
10 FEMA's 100-year flood prevention levels, homeowners and
11 business will be forced to purchase expensive flood insurance;
12 and
 
13     WHEREAS, The future growth of commercial and business
14 development in the Mississippi Bottoms will cease entirely if
15 expensive flood insurance and new regulations are mandated; and
 
16     WHEREAS, The Army Corps of Engineering will not have
17 available match funding for county bond monies to complete the
18 required engineering and construction of levee repair until
19 2044; and
 
20     WHEREAS, FEMA has refused to acknowledge the locally

 

 

HR0500 - 2 - LRB096 13186 AJT 27759 r

1 sponsored efforts to repair the various levees and the
2 successful operating procedures to mitigate seepage problems
3 by granting an administrative provisional certificate; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Missouri levees bordering the Mississippi River
5 were held to a much less stringent standard for 100-year flood
6 prevention; and
 
7     WHEREAS, In order to accelerate the engineering and
8 construction schedule to 2014, the three flood prevention
9 districts would have to generate an additional $400,000,000;
10 and
 
11     WHEREAS, The flood prevention districts have received
12 advice to seek the funding from the State of Illinois Capital
13 Budget; and
 
14     WHEREAS, The State Capital Budget has not designated any
15 funding for the Mississippi Bottoms levee repair; and
 
16     WHEREAS, The State of Illinois deems the repair of levees
17 throughout Illinois as a local and federal responsibility; and
 
18     WHEREAS, The three Metro East flood prevention districts
19 are in the process of bonding for approximately $100,000,000
20 for the local match for levee repair and have no additional

 

 

HR0500 - 3 - LRB096 13186 AJT 27759 r

1 capacity to fund the historically required federal share for
2 meeting the 100-year flood prevention requirements mandated by
3 FEMA; therefore, be it
 
4     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
5 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
6 urge the federal government to provide the necessary funding to
7 meet FEMA requirements to repair the Metro East levees, and
8 that funding ($400,000,000) be provided in such a manner that
9 substantial repair work can be completed by 2014; and be it
10 further
 
11     RESOLVED, That if funding cannot be provided in a timely
12 manner to meet the engineering and construction requirements by
13 2014, we urge the federal government to provide that FEMA be
14 required to provide provisional certification to the existing
15 levee system in the Mississippi Bottoms until such match funds
16 are made available; and be it further
 
17     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
18 presented to the President, the Speaker and Minority Leader of
19 the United States House of Representatives, the Majority and
20 Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, and the members
21 of the Illinois congressional delegation.