Where the money would go

In total, the Texas General Land Office proposes to spend $4.3 billion in federal flood control aid as follows:

• Earmark $2.3 billion for projects in areas flooded by 2015 or 2016 storms or by Harvey; Houston, Harris County and the county Flood Control District combined can compete for up to $1 billion of that.

• Divide $500 million among nine regional councils across the state; the Houston-Galveston Area Council will get $209 million. “We’d be lucky if we got one project out of that,” city recovery czar Steve Costello said.

• Add $500 million to Harvey housing repair programs; Houston and Harris County homeowners are ineligible because those governments received their own shares of the housing aid.

• Add $170 million to an existing Federal Emergency Management Agency mitigation program that has received more project applications than can be funded. The GLO plan prioritizes applicants that have not already gotten funding through the program, as Houston and the county Flood Control District have.

• Set aside $215 million for “regional and state planning,” and $30 million to update or create state and local hazard mitigation plans, awarding up to $100,000 per entity.

• Reserve $215 million for program administration, and $129 million to help local governments — typically small towns with limited expertise — put the mitigation aid they receive to use.

• Set aside $100 million to fund projects listed in the GLO’s Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan, which targets things such as wetlands protection and shoreline stabilization.

• Earmark $100 million to help cities and counties update their building codes, flood plain ordinances and land use plans to better prepare for floods and other hazards, awarding up to $300,000 per applicant.