Are Nebraska communities as prepared for future floods as they can be?

That's what one state lawmaker's legislation would help find out.

Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard said a bill he proposed would create a task force consisting of NEMA, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Environmental Energy and the Department of Transportation to look at if communities have done everything needed to protect themselves from future floods.

He said this would include flood planning and management, what Nebraska’s doing well and what other states are doing.

“We look at groundwater," Bostelman said.  "We look at droughts.  We really don’t take an overall comprehensive view from the state on flooding.  So this really gives us an opportunity to take a step back and look at what happened, look at response and are we in the best place that we can be right now to alleviate problems or help us for future flooding?”

Sen. Bostelman said the task force would also help better utilize federal funding.

No hearing date on the bill is set yet, but Bostelman said it should be going to the Natural Resources Committee.