Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 936 amends the Water Code to reflect changes to the federal National Flood Insurance Act, including changing all previous references to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which now administers the act. The bill specifies that a political subdivision is authorized to adopt more comprehensive floodplain management rules as necessary to protect public health and safety, to participate in floodplain management and mitigation initiatives, and to collect reasonable fees to cover the cost of administering a floodplain management program. The bill provides that an offense under certain provisions of the Flood Control and Insurance Act is a Class C misdemeanor for each day of a continuing violation, and it extends to political subdivisions generally the authority to enforce those provisions by filing civil suits for injunctions and civil penalties for violations, which authority previously was limited to certain counties. The bill also eliminates a provision that prohibited state rules and regulations from imposing requirements stricter than those established by the federal agency administering the National Flood Insurance Act.