The Built to Last Act, recently introduced by Senator Tammy Baldwin, aims to strengthen the resilience of infrastructure against increasingly frequent extreme weather by linking climate risk data with the standards that guide construction, design, and certification.
This blog post explains what the bill would do, why proponents say it’s necessary, and what it could mean for communities and taxpayers.
Overview of the Built to Last Act
At its core, the legislation seeks to create a cohesive framework for climate risk information and ensure that information informs building codes, standards, and voluntary certifications across federal, state, local, and private sectors.
By aligning data with standards development, the bill intends to reduce institutional and technical barriers to using up-to-date climate risk data in everyday engineering and construction practice.
Key mechanisms and responsibilities
- NOAA would identify a consistent federal set of best-available forward-looking meteorological information on risks such as floods, hurricanes, and wildfires.
- NIST would distribute that information to standards-developing organizations and provide technical assistance so it can be integrated into building codes, standards, and voluntary certifications.
- Standards bodies would update codes and certification criteria to reflect foreseeable climate risks using the new data.
- Federal, state, local governments and private actors would apply the updated standards to reduce taxpayer exposure to repeated rebuilding costs.
Economic and risk context driving the bill
The legislation responds to mounting costs from severe weather events and the perception that current standards lag behind climate realities.
Recent storms in Southeastern Wisconsin caused more than $27 million in public infrastructure damage that local counties absorbed.
On a national scale, the CBO estimates annual losses from hurricanes and storm-related flooding at about $54 billion across households, businesses, and government.
NOAA has documented an average of nine billion-dollar weather disasters per year from 1980 through 2024.
Stakeholder support and framing
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) emphasizes that reliable engineering standards depend on accurate, current weather data.
- Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) highlights how resilient homes protect families and reduce disaster losses.
- R Street Institute frames the act as fiscally responsible mitigation, citing research that each dollar spent on disaster mitigation can save about six dollars in future recovery costs.
- Enterprise Community Partners supports investments in resilient housing and community infrastructure to reduce vulnerability and promote equitable recovery.
Why modernizing standards matters for resilience
By formalizing a path from climate risk science to practice, the Built to Last Act aims to modernize standards-setting so that federal, state, local, and private infrastructure is designed to withstand foreseeable climate-related risks.
In practical terms, this means building codes and voluntary certifications would reflect the latest risk data, enabling communities to reduce repeated rebuilding costs and lower taxpayer exposure over time.
What comes next for policy and implementation
If enacted, the act would set in motion a coordinated federal pathway for translating climate projections into standards. Ongoing updates would occur as science advances.
Implementation would require close collaboration among NOAA, NIST, standards bodies, and various levels of government. Buy-in from the private sector responsible for codes and certifications would also be essential.
Here is the source article for this story: Baldwin Leads Bill to Ensure Americas Infrastructure Is Built to Last Against Extreme Weather