An Act to Increase Storm Preparedness for Maine's Communities, Homes and Infrastructure
Passed by the state legislature in April 2025, “An Act to Increase Storm Preparedness for Maine's Communities, Homes and Infrastructure” (LD1) establishes the Maine State Resilience Office, creates a new home resiliency program, creates a revolving loan fund for resilience improvements, and provides funding to implement these new programs.
Maine had 3 disaster declarations over the course of 2 years when the winter storms of 2023 - 2024 took place. These storms caused $90 million in damages, and are expected to become more common and even more costly in the coming years. In 2020, Maine released “Maine Won’t Wait,” an ambitious four-year climate plan that laid the groundwork for LD1. The Maine Office of Community Affairs (created by LD1934 in 2024, Resolve, to Improve the Coordination and Delivery of Planning Grants and Technical Assistance to Communities in Maine) is part of this vision and houses the new State Resilience Office. Community Affairs serves as a bridge between localities and the state level to increase effective planning and resilience to climate change.
An Act to Increase Storm Preparedness for Maine’s Communities, Homes and Infrastructure (LD1) allocates millions in funding for resilience against climate change. One such program, the Home Resiliency Program, provides grants to individual homeowners to make their homes more resilient to the impacts of climate change. The program has $15 million available to protect homes and reduce the cost of home insurance. The program will fund one project per eligible home. The types of projects are yet to be determined, but will include retrofits to roofs, basements, and other interventions against extreme weather. The eligibility for these grants will likely be divided into two income-based tiers, with maximum grant award amounts scaled relative to income levels.
LD1 also establishes a state-level Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM) revolving loan fund (RLF) for Maine. STORM is a federal program run by FEMA that provides grants to states to loan out for hazard mitigation projects. The Maine STORM RLF makes $10 million available for county, municipal, and tribal governments in low-interest loans to cover the non-federal match for FEMA disaster and hazard mitigation funds. In Maine, these loans will be used to address natural hazards and extreme weather events (like flooding and wind) and are managed by the Maine Emergency Management Agency.
Maine has also established a State Resilience Office (SRO) as part of their state-level resilience reorganization in LD1. The SRO is a branch of the new Maine Office of Community Affairs, and is guided by the priorities outlined in the Maine State Climate Plan. The SRO will coordinate and support the state’s resilience priorities by working across local, county, Tribal, and state level governments and agencies, and partaking in community engagement. The SRO will primarily collaborate with the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management - Maine Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, and the Bureau of Insurance. Staff in the Resilience Office will manage grants, provide technical assistance, and planning expertise. The SRO will house:
- The State Resilience Fund, which funds projects that mitigate risk to people, buildings, and infrastructure through data, tools, planning, and technical assistance;
- The Community Resilience Partnership Program, which provides technical and financial assistance to communities for climate mitigation and adaptation efforts; and
- Flood Ready Maine, a program with $9 million allocated to update flood models and maps. This includes the state Floodplain Management Program, and the State Floodplain Mapping Fund, which has over $1.7 million in funds to update and improve floodplain maps using light detection and ranging technology.
Moving forward, the Home Resiliency Program, the Maine STORM RLF, and the State Resilience Office will be finalized, public materials will be created and shared online and in-person, and more staff will be hired to manage programs like the State Resilience Fund and the Community Resilience Partnership Program.
LD1 enacted new Sections 3211 and 3212 of Chapter 310-B (Maine Office of Community Affairs) of Title 5 (Administrative Procedures and Services) of the Maine Revised Statutes to establish the State Resilience Office and State Resilience Fund. Title 5, Section 3109, is amended to reflect the move of the Community Resilience Partnership Program out of the Office of Policy Innovation and the Future and into the SRO. LD1 also amends Title 12 (Conservation), Sections 408 - 409 (Floodplain Management and State Floodplain Mapping Fund) to make the National Flood Insurance Program and State Floodplain Mapping Fund administrator the State Resilience Officer (housed in the State Resilience Office). Finally, the STORM RLF is established in Title 37-B, Chapter 13 (Maine Emergency Management Agency) at Section 747, and the Home Resiliency Program is established in a new Chapter 101 of Title 24-A, the Maine Insurance Code.
Publication Date: April 22, 2025
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