I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5722 

To require the Corps of Engineers to update Upper Mississippi River levee 

and floodwall design standards, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 

Mrs. MILLER of Illinois (for herself, Mr. BOST, Mr. SORENSEN, and Mr. 

LAHOOD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require the Corps of Engineers to update Upper Mississippi River levee and floodwall design standards, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER LEVEE AND 

4 FLOODWALL DESIGN STANDARDS. 

5 (a) UPDATES REQUIRED.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the Upper 

7 Mississippi River levee and floodwall projects, the 

8 Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of 

9 Engineers, shall not less frequently than every 20 


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1 years update the design probabilities used to estab2 lish the design profiles for levees and floodwalls, 

3 using the most recent probabilities and flood fre4 quency profiles and current appropriate factors of 

5 safety as needed for wave action, settlement, other 

6 existing and anticipated future uncertainties, and 

7 Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines 

8 to maintain accreditations. 

9 (2) CONTENTS.—In updating the design prob10 abilities under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ob11 tain public input at each stage of development, in12 cluding base elevation data, base hydrological and 

13 hydraulic assumptions, and shall utilize a public in14 volvement group for meaningful public engagement 

15 throughout the development of the updated flood 

16 frequency profiles. 

17 (b) UNIFORM FLOOD PROTECTION.—Local sponsors 

18 of the Upper Mississippi River levee and floodwall projects 

19 in paragraph (b) may maintain flood protection at levels 

20 consistent with the profiles established under subsection 

21 (a) such that— 

22 (1) the maintenance for Uniform Flood Protec23 tion is hereby deemed as not injurious to the feder24 ally authorized flood protection project, and no 

25 change in risk transfer from original Corps of EngiVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Sep 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722

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1 neers probability-based design, and previously ap2 proved alterations approved pursuant to section 

3 208.10 of title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, 

4 prior to 33 USC 408 EC 1165–2–216 dated 31, 

5 July 2014; 

6 (2) alterations to the Upper Mississippi River 

7 levee and floodwall projects made prior to July 31, 

8 2014, having met the standard established by sec9 tion 208.10 of title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, 

10 are hereby federally authorized; 

11 (3) repairs made by the United States of Amer12 ica pursuant to section 5 of the Flood Control Act 

13 of 1941 (33 U.S.C. 701n) shall be consistent with 

14 the most recent probabilities and flood frequency 

15 profiles and appropriate factors of safety; 

16 (4) maintenance under this section shall include 

17 local sponsor alteration or improvement of the 

18 Upper Mississippi River levee and floodwall projects 

19 to the prior approved level of protection using the 

20 profiles established under subsection (a); 

21 (5) maintenance to meet current flood fre22 quency profiles shall be within section 208.10 of title 

23 33, Code of Federal Regulations, and coordinated 

24 with the local sponsor’s respective St. Louis or Rock 

25 Island Corps of Engineers District, to preserve the 


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1 existing and prior approved systemic flood damage 

2 reduction planning, in general of rural areas pro3 tected to the 2 percent probability event, districts 

4 protecting combination urban, critical infrastructure, 

5 and rural areas at 1 percent and districts protecting 

6 highly industrial or all urban at 0.2 percent levels, 

7 as prior Corps of Engineers approved; and 

8 (6) maintenance to meet current flood fre9 quency profiles are voluntary and shall be the local 

10 sponsor’s responsibility at local sponsor’s cost. 

11 (c) PROJECT DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

12 ‘‘Upper Mississippi River levee and floodwall projects’’ 

13 means the federally authorized projects for flood protec14 tion on the Upper Mississippi River that include— 

15 (1) levees or floodwalls in the region from Ham16 burg, Illinois, to Guttenberg, Iowa; 

17 (2) levees in the region from Cape Girardeau, 

18 Missouri, to Hamburg, Illinois; and 

19 (3) federally improved levees with local spon20 sors. 

Æ 


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