On behalf of the Virginia Floodplain Management Association (VFMA) members, we wish to submit written testimony in support of HB 863. VFMA serves as the state chapter of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM), and VFMA’s membership represents local and state officials, as well as academia and private sector professionals engaged in floodplain management across the Commonwealth. This includes but is not limited to managing local floodplain ordinances and permitting development, engineering and land surveying, flood risk modeling and mapping, emergency management, planning, and community development. VFMA members continuously hear from Virginia residents who are unaware of their flood risk, oftentimes finding out when they are forced to purchase a flood insurance policy when purchasing a home, when development permits are denied due to local floodplain ordinance requirements, or after experiencing flood damages. Flood disclosure requirements are essential for communicating flood risk. This change in law would allow homebuyers and renters alike to be provided with all relevant flood risk information needed to reduce their flood risk and to make an informed decision when buying or leasing property.

Comments Document

On behalf of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM’s) members in Virginia and nationally, we wish to submit written testimony in support of HB 863. The ASFPM and its 38 state chapters represent more than 20,000 local and state officials as well as private sector and other professionals engaged in all aspects of floodplain management and flood hazard mitigation, including management of local floodplain ordinances, flood risk mapping, engineering, planning, community development, hydrology, forecasting, emergency response, water resources development and flood insurance. ASFPM has long supported flood disclosure requirements, which are an essential tool for communicating flood risk. People in the United States generally lack awareness about their home’s risk of flooding and there is no federal requirement for home sellers to disclose information about a property’s flood risk or previous flood damage to prospective buyers or renters. At the same time, flood losses nationwide are dramatically increasing. In 2021 and 2022 alone, the nation incurred over $200 billion in flood losses. Looking on a decadal basis, annual flood losses have roughly been doubling every decade since the 1990s. Flood disclosure requirements should be specific, required and actionable; older disclosure laws that are not specific to particular hazards that a state faces, or that are merely suggestive, simply do not work. By denying home buyers information about past flooding, people cannot make informed decisions about one of their biggest financial investments—their home. A good source of actionable flood risk information for particular property is the current property owner. Increasingly, concerns have been raised about the lack of flood risk information for renters. While it can be difficult to find out about a home’s flood risk and history as a homeowner, most renters get no information about flooding at all. Since 2020, five states have improved their disclosure laws related to flooding. New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Hawaii have all enacted or started the process on disclosure reforms that would give home buyers a right to know a home’s flood risk. New York and New Jersey have new laws that give similar rights to renters. Still there is more to be done. Twenty-three states still do not require a seller to disclose whether a home has previously flooded. States like Florida, Georgia, and Missouri, lack mandatory disclosure of flood risk and these states do not require a seller to provide a real estate disclosure form regarding flooding. When it comes disclosure for renters, only nine states affirmatively require landlords to disclose an apartment’s flood history or risk to prospective tenants. On balance, we find that HB 863 would result in a meaningful and practical change in state law improving Virginian’s overall flood risk awareness. In particular extending the disclosure requirements to renters is critically important. Given Virginia’s flood risk, this change in law is particularly relevant to ensure that future homebuyers and renters have a fully informed picture of flood risk in order to take action to reduce that risk.