PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 55 · Passed Senate · Sep 30, 2026
Floodplain Enhancement and Recovery Act
This bill eases restrictions for ecosystem restoration projects in designated floodways that meet certain risk criteria.
Under current National Flood Insurance Program requirements, such projects are generally prohibited in a designated floodway if the project would increase the area’s base flood elevation.
The bill establishes conditions under which a community may permit an ecosystem restoration project within a designated floodway that would result in an increase in base flood elevations. Specifically, the project may be permitted if (1) a professional engineer determines that the cumulative effect of the increase will be not more than 1 foot; (2) no insurable structure or critical infrastructure is located in an impacted area; and (3) the community submits an analysis to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the project’s effects after the project is complete.
An ecosystem restoration project is defined by the bill as a project that manipulates the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a site with a goal of recovering, reclaiming, or improving the functions of an aquatic resource or floodplain.
People & committees
Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA] · D–WA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Held at the desk.
Received in the House.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S5298; text: CR S5298)
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Oct 14, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1564 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1564 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1564 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1564 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.