Survey of State Land-Use and Natural Hazards Planning Laws
Recent hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding have highlighted the challenges the United States faces in responding effectively to natural disasters. The 2017 and 2018 hurricanes and wildfires affected millions of individuals and caused billions of dollars in damages.
Since 2005, federal funding for disaster assistance is at least $450 billion. Increasing reliance on federal help to address natural disasters is a key source of federal fiscal exposure, particularly as certain extreme weather events become more frequent and intense.
Supported by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), through its Cooperating Technical Partners (CTP) program, the American Planning Association (APA) is building upon previous efforts to survey state land-use and natural hazard planning laws in all 50 states.
This report details the findings from APA's 2017 review of these state laws.