West Virginia Flood Resiliency Trust Fund

The West Virginia Flood Resiliency Trust Fund, established in 2023 by Senate Bill 677, is a special revenue fund established to support financing state Flood Resiliency Plans throughout West Virginia. The fund is intended to provide loans or grants to municipalities in West Virginia seeking to increase their flood resilience.

To receive disbursements from the fund, municipalities must have updated town road and bridge standards, a flood hazard bylaw, a community-approved hazard mitigation plan, an adopted Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), an active rate classification under FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS), and approval of the State Resilience Board.

State law prioritizes low-income communities and nature-based solutions for funding through the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund. Specifically, Article 31, section 11 of the code stipulates that disbursements from the fund should prioritize low-income geographic areas, and that at least 50 percent of funds should be disbursed to low-income areas and low-income households. The code also requires that the fund prioritize nature-based solutions and that at least half of the fund’s disbursements should finance nature-based solutions. Of these disbursements, the code states that at least 25 percent should fund the acquisition of single- and multi-family homes located within the floodplain, assistance to families moving out of the floodplain, and floodplain restoration.

The West Virginia Flood Resiliency Trust Fund is overseen and administered by the State Resiliency Officer, and is codified in sections §29-31-10 through §29-31-13 of the state code. The fund may be granted an initial one-time allocation of $40 million in state general funds, and the State Resiliency Office Board is responsible for submitting annual budget requests for the fund, which may include amounts to replenish the fund up to the $40 million amount. The Fund consists of (1) any appropriations, grants, gifts, contributions, or revenues received by the Flood Fund from any source, public or private, as well as (2) all income earned on properties and assets held in the Fund. Any funds that are not allocated for immediate use are to be invested or reinvested by the West Virginia State Resiliency Officer. In the case of federally-declared flood disaster events, 6 percent of Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds received by the state will be dedicated to the implementation of the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Plan published in 2024 under SB 677.

As of June 2025, no money had been appropriated to the flood fund.

Publication Date: May 1, 2023

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