Laws and Regulations in Rural and Small Communities
This tab includes laws, proposed legislation, regulations, agency guidance, and executive orders relevant to adaptation in rural and small communities.
Resources are automatically presented by rating, but can be sorted by date or title. Apply additional filters to narrow by resource type, state, region, impact, or jurisdictional focus.
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Resource
January 19, 2017
The Georgetown Climate Center report, Lessons in Regional Resilience, documents lessons learned from regional climate collaboratives, which are bringing together local governments and other stakeholders to coordinate climate change initiatives at a regional level. This synthesis report shares lessons from each of the collaboratives in individual case studies, and offers insight to their goals, planning processes, and funding sources. The report is intended to help local governments consider models for coordinating at the regional level to facilitate planning and action to prepare for the impacts of climate change and draws on examples from six regional collaboratives from around the country.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Annie Bennett , Jessica Grannis
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Resource
January 2019
Georgetown Climate Center (GCC) prepared this report to help the Eastern Shore Climate Adaptation Partnership (ESCAP) identify strategies for adapting to increasing sea-level rise and flood risk in the Eastern Shore region of Maryland. This publication is a part of a series of reports assessing the sea-level rise vulnerability of communities in Maryland's Eastern Shore, as well as potential adaptation responses. ESCAP worked with the Eastern Shore Regional GIS cooperative to assess sea-level rise vulnerabilities in the six counties and two municipalities that participate in ESCAP.
Related Organizations: Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, Georgetown Climate Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Jessica Grannis , Katie Spidalieri , Jennifer Li
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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This report summarizes selected local land use ordinances and regulations that include specific mention of sea level rise or that incorporate appropriate policy responses that may be used to address sea level rise. While developed for The Nature Conservancy Long Island, it is a useful resource for any coastal state.
Related Organizations: Pace University School of Law, Land Use Law Center , The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Resource
July 15, 2020
This report, produced by the Georgetown Climate Center, features 17 case studies about how states, local governments, and communities across the country are approaching questions about managed retreat. Together, the case studies highlight how different types of legal and policy tools are being considered and implemented across a range of jurisdictions — from urban, suburban, and rural to riverine and coastal — to help support new and ongoing discussions on the subject. These case studies are intended to provide transferable lessons and potential management practices for coastal state and local policymakers evaluating managed retreat as one part of a strategy to adapt to climate change on the coast. The case studies in this report were informed by policymakers, practitioners, and community members leading, engaging in, or participating in the work presented in this report. This report was written to support Georgetown Climate Center’s Managed Retreat Toolkit, which also includes additional case study examples and a deeper exploration of specific legal and policy tools for use by state and local decisionmakers, climate adaptation practitioners, and planners.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Katie Spidalieri , Isabelle Smith
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
September 16, 2014
Approved by Governor Jerry Brown on September 16, 2014, the California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act implements new groundwater rules for California. Effective as of January 1, 2015, the three-bill package will create local agencies to oversee groundwater extraction, changing the state’s historic practice of allowing landowners to extract any water that lies beneath their land.
Related Organizations: California Department of Water Resources
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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May 13, 2014
On May 13, 2014 the town of Oxford, Maryland adopted a pioneering ordinance to create a Stormwater Management and Shoreline Protection (SMSP) Fund. Oxford commissioners unanimously agreed to increase the town’s property tax rate in order to collect fees for the maintenance, enhancement, improvement and repair of the Town’s stormwater management and shoreline protection improvements, facilities and systems. The fund will raise approximately $100,000 per year to help mitigate ongoing and increasing impacts from flooding throughout the community.
Related Organizations: University of Maryland, EPA Environmental Finance Centers
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Resource
December 2013
From the Georgetown Climate Center, this compendium collects and analyzes federal programs with potential to pay for state and local government adaptation to urban heat islands. This report analyzes federal funding programs providing funding for economic development, energy, environmental protection, public health and transportation to determine whether these purposes can be used to implement measures to reduce the the urban heat island effect in cities. For each program, the report includes information on who can apply for the funds, what activities the funds can be used to fund, amount of money in the program and average size of grant, as well as potential for use in adaptation.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Author or Affiliated User: Sara Hoverter
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Resource
2014
The Sierra Climate Change toolkit addresses climate change across the Sierra Nevada region of California, with localized strategies for emissions reductions and adaptation. The report describes climate change impacts in the Sierra, as well as recent regulations, policy directions, and incentives to reduce emissions and adapt. Adaptation strategies are outlined for water and watershed management, wildlife and habitats, forestry, wildfire, and City and County land-use planning. This 3rd edition from the Sierra Nevada Alliance expands its focus from previous versions with more strategic detail, case studies and further support for the development of an adaptation framework that works within existing planning processes throughout the Sierra.
Related Organizations: Sierra Nevada Alliance
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
August 2, 2012
This article examines legal strategies to help state and local governments reconcile these governance challenges when adapting to sea level rise (SLR). In the context of Connecticut state law, this article examines how land use regulations can be used to ensure that coastal development is more resilient to SLR impacts and less harmful to coastal ecosystems.
Related Organizations: National Sea Grant Law Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Jessica Grannis , Julia Wyman, Meagan Singer, Jena Shoaf, Colin Lynch
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
July 1, 2012
Connecticut’s Public Act 12-148, ‘An Act Enhancing Emergency Preparedness and Response,’ was signed into law by Governor Malloy in July 2012 to improve the ability of the state, municipalities, and utility companies to better prepare for natural disasters and other emergencies. The legislation is designed to strengthen infrastructure, bolster local preparedness training, improve communication between state and local leaders, and to hold utilities accountable for preparedness planning. Public Act 12-148 will help improve emergency preparedness for natural disasters and intense weather events by:
- Establishing standards for the utility, telecommunication, and cable companies during emergency events and establishing penalties in the event the companies do not meet these standards;
- Requiring utility companies, telecommunication companies, and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) Service Providers to submit emergency plans for restoring service;
- Creating a microgrid pilot program to be administered by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection;
- Studying the feasibility of requiring backup power for telecommunications towers and antennas;
- Encouraging the coordination of underground infrastructure projects; and
- Requiring the development of procedures to expedite the process of road-clearing following an emergency.
Related Organizations: Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP)
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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