Repeatedly Flooded Communities Preparation Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2153 To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure community accountability for areas repeatedly damaged by floods, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 21, 2021 Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure community accountability for areas repeatedly damaged by floods, 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 ‘‘Repeatedly Flooded 4 Communities Preparation Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEATEDLY 6 FLOODED AREAS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1361 of the National 8 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4102) is amended 9 by adding at the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2153 IS ‘‘(e) COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEAT- 1 EDLY DAMAGED AREAS.— 2 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 3 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered community’ means 4 a community— 5 ‘‘(i) that is participating in the na- 6 tional flood insurance program under sec- 7 tion 1315; and 8 ‘‘(ii) within which are located— 9 ‘‘(I) not fewer than 50 repetitive 10 loss structures with respect to each of 11 which, during any 10-year period, 12 there have been not fewer than 2 13 claims for payments under flood in- 14 surance coverage for a total amount 15 that is more than $1,000; 16 ‘‘(II) not fewer than 5 severe re- 17 petitive loss structures for which miti- 18 gation activities meeting the stand- 19 ards for approval under section 20 1366(c)(2)(A) have not been con- 21 ducted; or 22 ‘‘(III) a public facility or a pri- 23 vate nonprofit facility that has re- 24 ceived assistance for repair, restora- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2153 IS tion, reconstruction, or replacement 1 under section 406 of the Robert T. 2 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- 3 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4 5172) relating to more than 1 flood- 5 ing event during the most recent 10- 6 year period; 7 ‘‘(B) the terms ‘private nonprofit facility’ 8 and ‘public facility’ have the meanings given 9 those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. 10 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 11 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122); and 12 ‘‘(C) the term ‘severe repetitive loss struc- 13 ture’ has the meaning given the term in section 14 1366(h). 15 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERED COMMU- 16 NITIES.—The Administrator shall, by regulation, re- 17 quire a covered community to— 18 ‘‘(A) determine the areas within the cov- 19 ered community in which properties described 20 in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) or flood-damaged facili- 21 ties are located in order to identify areas that 22 are repeatedly damaged by floods; 23 ‘‘(B) assess, with assistance from the Ad- 24 ministrator, the continuing risks to the repeat- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2153 IS edly damaged areas identified under subpara- 1 graph (A); 2 ‘‘(C) develop a community-specific plan for 3 mitigating continuing flood risks to the repeat- 4 edly damaged areas identified under subpara- 5 graph (A); 6 ‘‘(D) submit the plan described in subpara- 7 graph (C) and any plan updates to the Admin- 8 istrator at appropriate intervals; 9 ‘‘(E) implement the plan described in sub- 10 paragraph (C) and any updates to the plan; and 11 ‘‘(F) subject to section 552a of title 5, 12 United States Code, make the plan described in 13 subparagraph (C), any updates to the plan, and 14 reports on progress in reducing flood risk avail- 15 able to the public. 16 ‘‘(3) INCORPORATION INTO EXISTING PLANS.— 17 A covered community may incorporate a plan devel- 18 oped under paragraph (2)(C), including any updates 19 to such a plan, into a mitigation plan developed 20 under— 21 ‘‘(A) section 1366; and 22 ‘‘(B) section 322 of the Robert T. Stafford 23 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 24 (42 U.S.C. 5165). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2153 IS ‘‘(4) ASSISTANCE TO COMMUNITIES.— 1 ‘‘(A) DATA.—To assist a covered commu- 2 nity in developing a plan required under para- 3 graph (2)(C), including any updates to such a 4 plan, the Administrator shall, upon request, 5 provide the covered community with appropriate 6 data regarding the property addresses and 7 dates of claims associated with insured prop- 8 erties within the covered community. 9 ‘‘(B) MITIGATION GRANTS.—In making a 10 determination regarding financial assistance 11 under this Act, the Administrator may consider 12 the extent to which a covered community— 13 ‘‘(i) has complied with this subsection; 14 and 15 ‘‘(ii) is working to remedy problems 16 with respect to repeatedly flooded areas. 17 ‘‘(5) SANCTIONS.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 19 may, by regulations issued in accordance with 20 the procedures required under section 553 of 21 title 5, United States Code, impose appropriate 22 sanctions on a covered community that fails 23 to— 24 ‘‘(i) comply with this subsection; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2153 IS ‘‘(ii) make sufficient progress in re- 1 ducing the flood risks to areas in the cov- 2 ered community that are repeatedly dam- 3 aged by floods. 4 ‘‘(B) SUSPENSION AND PROBATION.—The 5 sanctions described in subparagraph (A) may 6 include suspension from the national flood in- 7 surance program or probation under that pro- 8 gram, as provided under section 59.24 of title 9 44, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on 10 the date of enactment of this subsection. 11 ‘‘(C) NOTICE.— 12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Before imposing 13 any sanctions under this paragraph, the 14 Administrator shall provide the covered 15 community that is subject to the sanctions 16 with notice of the violation that may sub- 17 ject the covered community to the sanc- 18 tions. 19 ‘‘(ii) CONTENTS.—The notice required 20 under clause (i) shall include recommenda- 21 tions for actions that the covered commu- 22 nity receiving the notice may take in order 23 to bring the covered community into com- 24 pliance. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2153 IS ‘‘(D) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 1 appropriate sanctions to impose under this 2 paragraph, the Administrator shall consider the 3 resources available to the covered community 4 that is subject to the sanctions, including— 5 ‘‘(i) any Federal funding received by 6 the covered community; 7 ‘‘(ii) the portion of the covered com- 8 munity that lies within an area having spe- 9 cial flood hazards; and 10 ‘‘(iii) any other factor that makes it 11 difficult for the covered community to con- 12 duct mitigation activities for flood-prone 13 structures. 14 ‘‘(6) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 15 6 years after the date of enactment of this sub- 16 section, and not less frequently than once every 2 17 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to 18 Congress a report regarding the progress made by 19 covered communities with respect to implementing 20 plans developed under paragraph (2)(C), including 21 any updates to those plans.’’. 22 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 23 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 24 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue regu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2153 IS lations necessary to carry out subsection (e) of section 1 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 2 U.S.C. 4102), as added by subsection (a) of this section. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS