[1] It was sponsored by Senator Wesley L. Jones (R) of Washington and Representative Frank R. Reid (R) of Illinois,[citation needed] in response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
It put flood control on par with other major projects of its time with the largest public works appropriation ever authorized.
Directed surveys to be made between Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Cape Girardeau, Missouri to ascertain and determine the best method of securing flood relief in addition to levees.
Nothing in the Act was meant to prevent, postpone, delay, or in anywise interfere with the execution of that part of the project on the east side of the river.
In January 2008, this liability provision played a controversial role concerning the legal cases resulting from the levee failures in New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005.
Federal Judge Stanwood Duval, of the US District Court for Eastern Louisiana, held the US Army Corps of Engineers responsible for defects in the design of the concrete I-wall floodwall constructed in the earthen levees of the 17th Street Canal in the period following Hurricane Betsy (1965).
In 2008, the US District Court placed responsibility for this floodwall's collapse squarely on the US Army Corps of Engineers; however, the agency is protected from financial liability in the Flood Control Act of 1928.Provide Federal government flowage rights for additional destructive flood waters that will pass by reason of diversions from the main channel of the Mississippi River.
Provided that any benefits to property from execution of the flood-control plan would be taken into consideration in reducing the amount of compensation paid for flowage rights.
Provisions of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1918 were made applicable to the acquisition of lands, easements, or rights of way needed for works of flood control.
The commission was to inspect frequently enough and hold hearings to enable it to acquire first-hand information as to conditions and problems of flood control within the area of its jurisdiction.
It established that the president/executive officer of the commission is to qualifications prescribed by law for the Assistant Chief of Engineers and be given the rank, pay, and allowances of a brigadier general.
Directed that the United States Department of Agriculture and such other agencies determine how Mississippi Valley floods may be controlled by proper forestry practice.