20 V.S.A. § 48

(a) Program established. There is established the Community Resilience and Disaster Mitigation Grant Program to award grants to covered municipalities to provide support for disaster mitigation, adaptation, or repair activities.

(b) Definition. As used in this section, “covered municipality” means a city, town, fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program in accordance with 42 U.S.C. Chapter 50.

(c) Administration; implementation.

(1) Grant awards. The Department of Public Safety, in coordination with the Department of Environmental Conservation, shall administer the Program, which shall award grants for the following:

(A) technical assistance for natural disaster mitigation, adaptation, or repair to municipalities;

(B) technical assistance for the improvement of municipal stormwater systems and other municipal infrastructure;

(C) projects that implement disaster mitigation measures, adaptation, or repair, including watershed restoration, voluntary buyouts for flood-impacted or -prone properties, and similar activities that directly reduce risks to communities, lives, public collections of historic value, and property; and

(D) projects to adopt and meet the State's model flood hazard bylaws.

(2) Grant Program design. The Department of Public Safety, in coordination with the Department of Environmental Conservation, shall design the Program. The Program design shall:

(A) establish an equitable system for distributing grants statewide on the basis of need according to a system of priorities, including the following:

(i) projects that meet the standards established by the Department of Environmental Conservation's Stream Alteration Rule and Flood Hazard Area and River Corridor Rule;

(ii) projects that use funding as a match for other grants, including grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA);

(iii) projects that are in hazard mitigation plans; and

(iv) projects that are geographically located around the State;

(B) establish guidelines for disaster mitigation measures and costs that will be eligible for grant funding; and

(C) establish eligibility criteria for covered municipalities, but allow municipalities to partner with community organizations to apply for grants and implement projects awarded funding by those grants.

(3) Annually, by November 15, the Department of Public Safety shall submit a report detailing the current Program design and any grants awarded pursuant to this section during the preceding year to the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs and the Senate Committee on Government Operations.