Community Mapping Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3416 To allow communities to develop alternative flood insurance rate maps, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Mr. LUETKEMEYER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To allow communities to develop alternative flood insurance rate maps, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Mapping 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY FLOOD MAPS. 6 (a) TECHNICAL MAPPING ADVISORY COUNCIL.—Sec- 7 tion 100215 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Re- 8 form Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101a) is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (c)— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3416.IH H3416 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3416 IH (A) in paragraph (5)(B), by striking ‘‘and’’ 1 at the end; 2 (B) by redesignating paragraph (6) as 3 paragraph (9); and 4 (C) by inserting after paragraph (5) the 5 following new paragraphs: 6 ‘‘(6) recommend to the Administrator methods 7 or actions to make the flood mapping processes more 8 efficient; 9 ‘‘(7) recommend to the Administrator methods 10 or actions to minimize any cost, data, and paper- 11 work requirements of the flood mapping processes; 12 ‘‘(8) assist communities, and in particular 13 smaller communities, in locating the resources re- 14 quired to participate in the development of flood ele- 15 vations and flood hazard area designations; and’’; 16 and 17 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 18 section: 19 ‘‘(m) COMMUNITY FLOOD MAPS.— 20 ‘‘(1) STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES.—In addi- 21 tion to the other duties of the Council under this 22 section, not later than the expiration of the 12- 23 month period beginning on the date of the enact- 24 ment of this subsection, the Council shall rec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3416.IH H3416 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3416 IH ommend to the Administrator standards and re- 1 quirements for chief executive officers, or entities 2 designated by chief executive officers, of States and 3 communities participating in the National Flood In- 4 surance Program to use in mapping flood hazards 5 located in States and communities that choose to de- 6 velop alternative maps to the flood insurance rate 7 maps developed by the Agency. The recommended 8 standards and requirements shall include procedures 9 for providing notification and appeal rights to indi- 10 viduals within the communities of the proposed flood 11 elevation determinations. 12 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION FROM RULEMAKING.—Until 13 such time as the Administrator promulgates regula- 14 tions implementing paragraph (1) of this subsection, 15 the Administrator may, notwithstanding any other 16 provision of law, adopt policies and procedures nec- 17 essary to implement such paragraphs without under- 18 going notice and comment rulemaking and without 19 conducting regulatory analyses otherwise required by 20 statute, regulation, or executive order.’’. 21 (b) FEMA IDENTIFICATION OF FLOOD-PRONE 22 AREAS.—Subsection (a) of section 1360 of the National 23 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101(a)) is 24 amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3416.IH H3416 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3416 IH (1) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 1 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 2 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 3 subparagraphs (A), and (B), respectively, and re- 4 aligning such subparagraphs so as to be indented 4 5 ems from the left margin; 6 (3) by striking ‘‘is authorized to consult’’ and 7 inserting the following: ‘‘is authorized— 8 ‘‘(1) to consult’’; 9 (4) by adding at the end the following new 10 paragraph: 11 ‘‘(2) to receive proposed alternative maps from 12 communities developed pursuant to standards and 13 requirements recommended by the Technical Map- 14 ping Advisory Council, as required by section 15 100215(m) of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance 16 Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101a(m)) and 17 adopted by the Administrator as required by section 18 100216(c)(3) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 4101b(c)(3)), 19 so that the Administrator may— 20 ‘‘(A) publish information with respect to 21 all flood plain areas, including coastal areas lo- 22 cated in the United States, which have special 23 flood hazards, and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3416.IH H3416 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3416 IH ‘‘(B) establish or update flood-risk zone 1 data in all such areas, and make estimates with 2 respect to the rates of probable flood caused 3 loss for the various flood risk zones for each of 4 these areas until the date specified in section 5 1319.’’. 6 (c) NATIONAL FLOOD MAPPING PROGRAM.—Section 7 100216 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform 8 Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101b) is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘prepared by 10 the Administrator, or by a community pursuant to 11 section 1360(a)(2) of the National Flood Insurance 12 Act of 1968,’’ after ‘‘Program rate maps’’; 13 (2) in subsection (c)— 14 (A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘and’’ 15 at the end; 16 (B) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking the 17 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 18 and 19 (C) by adding at the end the following new 20 paragraphs: 21 ‘‘(3) establish and adopt standards and require- 22 ments for development by States and communities of 23 alternative flood insurance rate maps to be sub- 24 mitted to the Administrator pursuant to section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3416.IH H3416 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3416 IH 1360(a)(2) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1 1968, taking into consideration the recommenda- 2 tions of the Technical Mapping Advisory Council 3 made pursuant to section 100215(m) of this Act (42 4 U.S.C. 4101a(m)); and 5 ‘‘(4) in the case of proposed alternative maps 6 received by the Administrator pursuant to such sec- 7 tion 1360(a)(2), not later than the expiration of the 8 6-month period beginning upon receipt of such pro- 9 posed alternative maps— 10 ‘‘(A) determine whether such maps were 11 developed in accordance with the standards and 12 requirements adopted pursuant to paragraph 13 (3) of this subsection; and 14 ‘‘(B) approve or disapprove such proposed 15 maps for use under National Flood Insurance 16 Program.’’; and 17 (3) in subsection (d)(1), by inserting ‘‘max- 18 imum’’ before ‘‘30-day period’’ each place such term 19 appears in subparagraphs (B) and (C). 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3416.IH H3416 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS