Fair Flood Insurance Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3146 To provide for the monthly installment payment of premiums for coverage under the National Flood Insurance Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 5, 2019 Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia (for himself and Mr. DUFFY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To provide for the monthly installment payment of premiums for coverage under the National Flood Insurance Pro- gram, 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 ‘‘Fair Flood Insurance 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. MONTHLY INSTALLMENT PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS. 6 (a) AUTHORITY.—Subsection (g) of section 1308 of 7 the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 8 4015(g)) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3146.IH H3146 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3146 IH (1) by striking the subsection designation and 1 all that follows through ‘‘With respect’’ and insert- 2 ing the following: 3 ‘‘(g) FREQUENCY OF PREMIUM COLLECTION.— 4 ‘‘(1) OPTIONS.—With respect’’; and 5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(2) MONTHLY INSTALLMENT PAYMENT OF 7 PREMIUMS.— 8 ‘‘(A) EXEMPTION FROM RULEMAKING.— 9 Until such time as the Administrator promul- 10 gates regulations implementing paragraph (1) 11 of this subsection, the Administrator may adopt 12 policies and procedures, notwithstanding any 13 other provisions of law and in alignment and 14 consistent with existing industry escrow and 15 servicing standards, necessary to implement 16 such paragraph without undergoing notice and 17 comment rulemaking and without conducting 18 regulatory analyses otherwise required by stat- 19 ute, regulation, or Executive order. 20 ‘‘(B) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Adminis- 21 trator may initially implement paragraph (1) of 22 this subsection as a pilot program that provides 23 for a gradual phase-in of implementation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3146.IH H3146 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3146 IH ‘‘(C) POLICYHOLDER PROTECTION.—The 1 Administrator may— 2 ‘‘(i) during the 12-month period be- 3 ginning on the date of the enactment of 4 this paragraph, charge policyholders choos- 5 ing to pay premiums in monthly install- 6 ments a fee for the total cost of the month- 7 ly collection of premiums not to exceed $25 8 annually; and 9 ‘‘(ii) after the expiration of the 12- 10 month period referred to in clause (i), ad- 11 just the fee charged annually to cover the 12 total cost of the monthly collection of pre- 13 miums as determined by the report sub- 14 mitted pursuant to subparagraph (D). 15 ‘‘(D) REPORT.—Not later than six months 16 after the date of the enactment of this para- 17 graph, the Comptroller General shall submit a 18 report to the Committee on Financial Services 19 of the House of Representatives and the Com- 20 mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 21 of the Senate, that sets forth all of the costs as- 22 sociated with the monthly payment of pre- 23 miums, including any up-front costs associated 24 with infrastructure development, the impact on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3146.IH H3146 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3146 IH all policyholders including those that exercise 1 the option to pay monthly and those that do 2 not, options for minimizing the costs, particu- 3 larly the costs to policyholders, and the feasi- 4 bility of adopting practices that serve to mini- 5 mize costs to policyholders such as automatic 6 payments and electronic payments. 7 ‘‘(E) ANNUAL REPORTS.—On an annual 8 basis, the Administrator shall report to the 9 Committee on Financial Services of the House 10 of Representatives and the Committee on Bank- 11 ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 12 the ongoing costs associated with the monthly 13 payment of premiums.’’. 14 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—Clause (ii) of section 15 1307(a)(1)(B) (42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(1)(B)(ii)) is amended 16 by inserting before ‘‘any administrative expenses’’ the fol- 17 lowing: ‘‘the costs associated with the monthly collection 18 of premiums provided for in section 1308(g) (42 U.S.C. 19 4015(g)), but only if such costs exceed the operating costs 20 and allowances set forth in clause (i) of this subparagraph, 21 and’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3146.IH H3146 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS