Scientific Flood Mapping Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1402 To transfer functions related to the preparation of flood maps from the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Director of the United States Geological Survey, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 27, 2019 Mr. CRAWFORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Nat- ural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak- er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju- risdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To transfer functions related to the preparation of flood maps from the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Director of the United States Geological Survey, 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 ‘‘Scientific Flood Map- 4 ping Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1402 IH SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS RELATED TO PREPARA- 1 TION OF FLOOD MAPS. 2 (a) TRANSFER PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after 3 the date of the enactment of this Act the Administrator 4 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the 5 Director of the United States Geological Survey shall— 6 (1) jointly prepare a report describing the proc- 7 ess by which the Administrator of the Federal 8 Emergency Management Agency shall transfer to 9 the Director of the United States Geological Survey 10 of the Department of the Interior all functions re- 11 lated to the preparation of flood maps as required 12 under section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance 13 Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101) that the Adminis- 14 trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen- 15 cy was responsible for performing on date of the en- 16 actment of this Act; and 17 (2) submit such report to Congress. 18 (b) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.—Not later than 18 19 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 20 Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 21 Agency shall transfer to the Director of the United States 22 Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior the 23 functions described in subsection (a). 24 (c) PERSONNEL.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1402 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 1 the personnel employed in connection with the of- 2 fices and functions of the Federal Emergency Man- 3 agement Agency that are transferred under this Act 4 shall be transferred to the United States Geological 5 Survey. 6 (2) TRANSITION.—The Administrator of the 7 Federal Emergency Management Agency is author- 8 ized to use the services of such personnel employed 9 in connection with the offices and functions of the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency that are 11 transferred under this Act for such period of time as 12 may reasonably be needed to facilitate the orderly 13 transfer of such functions. 14 (3) EFFECT.—Any full-time or part-time per- 15 sonnel employed in permanent positions shall not be 16 separated or reduced in grade or compensation be- 17 cause of the transfer under this Act during the 1- 18 year period beginning on the date of the enactment 19 of this Act. 20 (d) PROPERTY AND RECORDS.—The contracts, liabil- 21 ities, records, property, and other assets and interests of, 22 or made available in connection with, the functions trans- 23 ferred under this Act shall be transferred to the United 24 States Geological Survey for appropriate allocation. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1402 IH SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 1 (a) TECHNICAL MAPPING ADVISORY COUNCIL.—Sec- 2 tion 100215 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Re- 3 form Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101a) is amended by strik- 4 ing ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it appears, except for sub- 5 section (b) of such section, and inserting ‘‘Director of the 6 United States Geological Survey’’. 7 (b) NATIONAL FLOOD MAPPING PROGRAM.—Section 8 100216 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform 9 Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101b) is amended by striking 10 ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it appears, except for sub- 11 section (f) of such section, and inserting ‘‘Director of the 12 United States Geological Survey’’. 13 (c) COORDINATION.—Section 100220 of the Biggert- 14 Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 15 4101c) is amended— 16 (1) by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it 17 appears and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States 18 Geological Survey’’; and 19 (2) in the heading for subsection (b), by strik- 20 ing ‘‘ADMINISTRATOR’’ and inserting ‘‘UNITED 21 STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY’’. 22 (d) REMAPPING.—Section 100229 of the Biggert- 23 Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (126 Stat. 24 945) is amended by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ each place 25 it appears and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1402 IH Geological Survey’’, except for the second place such term 1 appears in subsection (b)(4)(A) of such section and sub- 2 sections (b)(4)(B) and (c)(2) of such section. 3 (e) IDENTIFICATION OF FLOOD-PRONE AREAS.— 4 Section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 5 (42 U.S.C. 4101) is amended by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ 6 each place it appears, except for subsection (d) of such 7 section, and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States Geo- 8 logical Survey’’. 9 (f) APPEALS.—Section 1363 of the National Flood 10 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104) is amended— 11 (1) by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it 12 appears and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States 13 Geological Survey’’; and 14 (2) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘Federal 15 Emergency Management Agency’’ and inserting 16 ‘‘United States Geological Survey’’. 17 (g) SCIENTIFIC RESOLUTION PANEL.—Section 18 1363A of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 19 U.S.C. 4101–1) is amended— 20 (1) by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it 21 appears and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States 22 Geological Survey’’; 23 (2) by striking ‘‘Federal Emergency Manage- 24 ment Agency’’ each place it appears, except for sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1402 IH section (d), and inserting ‘‘Director of the United 1 States Geological Survey’’; and 2 (3) in subsection (d)— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘, the Federal Emergency 4 Management Agency shall ensure that for each 5 such community that’’; 6 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘the Di- 7 rector of the United States Geological Survey 8 shall ensure that for each such community 9 that’’ after the enumerator; and 10 (C) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘the 11 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall 12 ensure that for each such community that’’. 13 (h) INITIAL FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAPS.—The 14 National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is amended— 15 (1) in section 1307(f) (42 U.S.C. 4014(f)), by 16 inserting ‘‘or the Director of the United States Geo- 17 logical Survey’’ after ‘‘published by the Adminis- 18 trator’’; and 19 (2) in section 1312(b) (42 U.S.C. 4019(b)), by 20 inserting ‘‘or the Director of the United States Geo- 21 logical Survey’’ after ‘‘published by the Adminis- 22 trator’’ both places it appears. 23 (i) IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARDS.— 24 The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1402 IH (1) in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 1 1364(a) (42 U.S.C. 4101a(a)(1) and (2)), by strik- 2 ing ‘‘identified by the Administrator’’ both places 3 such term appears and inserting ‘‘identified by the 4 Director of the United States Geological Survey’’; 5 and 6 (2) in section 1365(a) (42 U.S.C. 4104b(a)), by 7 striking ‘‘identified by the Administrator’’ and in- 8 serting ‘‘identified by the Director of the United 9 States Geological Survey’’. 10 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL MAPPING ADVISORY COUNCIL. 11 Section 100215 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insur- 12 ance Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101a), as amended 13 by the preceding provisions of this Act, is further amend- 14 ed— 15 (1) in subsection (b)— 16 (A) in paragraph (1)— 17 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 18 (A) through (E) as subparagraphs (B) 19 through (F), respectively; 20 (ii) by inserting before subparagraph 21 (B), as so redesignated by clause (i) of this 22 subparagraph, the following new subpara- 23 graph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1402 IH ‘‘(A) the Director of the United States Ge- 1 ological Survey;’’; and 2 (iii) in subparagraph (F), as so redes- 3 ignated by clause (i) of this subpara- 4 graph— 5 (I) in the matter preceding clause 6 (i), by striking ‘‘16’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘17’’; 8 (II) in clause (xiii), by striking 9 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 10 (III) in clause (xiv), by striking 11 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 12 and’’; and 13 (IV) by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing new clause: 15 ‘‘(xv) a member of a recognized pro- 16 fessional real estate brokerage associa- 17 tion.’’; and 18 (B) in paragraph h(2), by striking ‘‘para- 19 graph (1)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 20 (1)(F)’’; and 21 (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol- 22 lows: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1402 IH ‘‘(e) CHAIRPERSON.—The Chairperson of the Council 1 shall be the Director of the United States Geological Sur- 2 vey.’’. 3 SEC. 5. FEDERAL POLICY FEE. 4 The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is amend- 5 ed— 6 (1) in section 1307(a) (42 U.S.C. 4014(a))— 7 (A) in paragraph (1)(B)(iii)— 8 (i) by striking ‘‘(including the costs of 9 mapping activities under section 1360)’’; 10 and 11 (ii) by striking ‘‘which shall be recov- 12 ered by a fee charged to policyholders and 13 such fee shall not be subject to any agents’ 14 commissions, company expense allowances, 15 or State or local premium taxes’’ and in- 16 serting ‘‘but not including the costs of 17 mapping activities under section 1360’’; 18 and 19 (B) in paragraph (2), in the matter pre- 20 ceding subparagraph (A)— 21 (i) by striking ‘‘that shall not be not 22 subject to any agents’ commission, com- 23 pany expenses allowances, or State or local 24 premium taxes’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1402 IH (ii) by striking ‘‘(including’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘but not including’’; and 2 (iii) by striking the closing paren- 3 theses; and 4 (2) in section 1360 (42 U.S.C. 4101), by add- 5 ing at the end the following new subsection: 6 ‘‘(k) MAPPING FEE.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent provided in 8 advance in an appropriation Act, the Administrator, 9 in consultation with the Director of the United 10 States Geological Survey, shall charge policy holders 11 a fee for the purpose of recovering the cost of map- 12 ping activities under this section. 13 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—As part of the consulta- 14 tion under paragraph (1), the Director of the United 15 States Geological Survey shall determine the amount 16 of such fee. 17 ‘‘(3) OTHER CONSIDERATIONS.—The fee under 18 this subsection shall not be subject to any agent’s 19 commissions, company expense allowances, or State 20 or local premium taxes. 21 ‘‘(4) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—The Adminis- 22 trator shall deposit the fees collected pursuant to 23 paragraph (1) into a separate account in the Treas- 24 ury to be called the ‘Flood Insurance Risk Mapping 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1402 IH Fund’, which shall be available to the Director of the 1 United States Geological Survey for mapping activi- 2 ties under this section without further appropria- 3 tion.’’. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS