MEMA Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2170 To amend the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 to make reforms to flood mapping programs, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 18, 2019 Mr. WICKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To amend the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 to make reforms to flood mapping programs, 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 ‘‘Municipality Empower- 4 ment Mapping Achievement Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘MEMA 5 Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL FLOOD MAPPING PROGRAM. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 100216 of the Biggert- 8 Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 9 4101b) is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2170 IS (1) in subsection (b)(1)— 1 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘to— 2 ’’ and all that follows through the end of clause 3 (vi) and inserting ‘‘to all areas of the United 4 States;’’; 5 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘ac- 8 curate topography’’ and all that follows through 9 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘current 10 and best remote sensing technology; and’’; and 11 (D) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(D) when appropriate, partner with other 13 Federal agencies and private entities in order to 14 meet the objectives of the program.’’; 15 (2) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub- 16 section (g); and 17 (3) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(f) INCORPORATING BUILDING-SPECIFIC FLOOD 20 RISK INFORMATION.— 21 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years 23 after the date of enactment of the Municipality 24 Empowerment Mapping Achievement Act of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2170 IS 2019, the Administrator, in coordination with, 1 and as recommended by, the Technical Mapping 2 Advisory Council, shall establish a dynamic, 3 database-derived digital display environment for 4 flood hazard risk production and dissemination. 5 ‘‘(B) CONSULTATION WITH STATES AND 6 COMMUNITIES.—In designing and constructing 7 the environment under subparagraph (A), the 8 Administrator shall— 9 ‘‘(i) leverage and partner with States 10 and communities that have successfully im- 11 plemented the same approach; and 12 ‘‘(ii) consider adopting the techniques 13 and technologies used by States and com- 14 munities described in clause (i) and apply- 15 ing those techniques and technologies na- 16 tionwide. 17 ‘‘(2) DIGITAL DISPLAY.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out para- 19 graph (1), the Administrator shall create a dig- 20 ital display prompted through dynamic querying 21 of a spatial, relational building database that 22 may not be publically disseminated and that in- 23 cludes— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2170 IS ‘‘(i) special flood hazard areas and 1 base flood elevations for purposes of lender 2 compliance with the requirements under 3 section 102 of the Flood Disaster Protec- 4 tion Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a); and 5 ‘‘(ii) structure-specific flood risk infor- 6 mation, including, for each property ad- 7 dress— 8 ‘‘(I) the spatial footprint and ele- 9 vation of the structure relative to spe- 10 cial flood hazard areas and base flood 11 elevations; 12 ‘‘(II) the most current elevation 13 certificate applicable to the property; 14 ‘‘(III) any letter of map changes; 15 ‘‘(IV) the full risk premium rate 16 estimated for the structure under sec- 17 tion 1307(a)(1) of the National Flood 18 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 19 4014(a)(1)) based on elevation data; 20 ‘‘(V) the disclosure described in 21 section 1308(l) of the National Flood 22 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 23 4015(l)), which shall include— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2170 IS ‘‘(aa) the extent to which, if 1 any, the chargeable premium rate 2 applicable to the property is less 3 than the full risk premium rate 4 under section 1307(a)(1) of that 5 Act (42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(1)); and 6 ‘‘(bb) an explanation of the 7 difference described in item (aa) 8 and the methodology used to rate 9 the property; 10 ‘‘(VI) the estimated cost to re- 11 pair the structure in the case of dam- 12 age from floods with recurrence inter- 13 vals ranging from the 10 percent an- 14 nual chance event to the 0.2 percent 15 annual chance event; 16 ‘‘(VII) the cost-effectiveness of 17 mitigating the structure using com- 18 mon methods and how the chargeable 19 premium rate would change based on 20 each mitigation method; and 21 ‘‘(VIII) the claims history of the 22 structure, including the amount and 23 date of each loss. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2170 IS ‘‘(B) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS.—With re- 1 spect to the database described in subparagraph 2 (A), including any data used to create that 3 database, the Administrator may not dissemi- 4 nate the database to— 5 ‘‘(i) the public; or 6 ‘‘(ii) a private company for use by the 7 private company. 8 ‘‘(3) DATABASE.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 10 shall— 11 ‘‘(i) develop a spatial, relational data- 12 base of buildings in the national flood in- 13 surance program; and 14 ‘‘(ii) obtain the data necessary to sup- 15 port the digital display created under para- 16 graph (2). 17 ‘‘(B) DATA.—The data obtained under 18 subparagraph (A) shall include, at a min- 19 imum— 20 ‘‘(i) footprints and elevations (includ- 21 ing lowest adjacent grade and first floor) 22 from Light Detection and Ranging (com- 23 monly known as ‘LiDAR’) data collections 24 or other data collection methods that meet 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2170 IS or exceed the standards for buildings, as 1 determined by the Administrator; 2 ‘‘(ii) elevation certificates; 3 ‘‘(iii) parcel, address, and imagery 4 data necessary for the identification, as- 5 sessment, and reduction of flood hazards 6 for individual properties; 7 ‘‘(iv) flood insurance rate maps, stud- 8 ies, and supporting data; 9 ‘‘(v) letters of map change; and 10 ‘‘(vi) any other data that the Adminis- 11 trator determines necessary to collect to 12 meet the objectives of this section. 13 ‘‘(4) DATA PROCUREMENT.—The Administrator 14 shall obtain any data necessary to establish the envi- 15 ronment under paragraph (1), including by— 16 ‘‘(A) directing communities participating 17 in the National Flood Insurance Program, by 18 regulation, to collect and supply information, 19 including elevation data, for each structure that 20 obtains a construction or other development 21 permit within— 22 ‘‘(i) a special flood hazard area; or 23 ‘‘(ii) an advisory special flood hazard 24 area adopted by the community; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2170 IS ‘‘(B) issuing guidelines and standards, as 1 determined by the Administrator; 2 ‘‘(C) partnering with other Federal, State, 3 local, and private stakeholders to the greatest 4 extent possible to obtain and share existing 5 data that meets or exceeds the standards deter- 6 mined by the Administrator under subpara- 7 graph (B); and 8 ‘‘(D) contracting with private companies to 9 obtain new LiDAR data collections or elevation 10 certificates. 11 ‘‘(5) NFIP PREMIUM CREDIT.—The Adminis- 12 trator shall provide a 1-time premium credit of not 13 more than $500 to a policyholder for the purchase 14 of an elevation certificate. 15 ‘‘(6) MASS LETTERS OF MAP CHANGE.—In co- 16 ordination with States and communities that have 17 successfully implemented a dynamic, database-de- 18 rived digital display environment for flood hazard 19 risk production and dissemination, the Adminis- 20 trator shall issue guidelines for the adoption and in- 21 tegration into the National Flood Mapping Program 22 of LiDAR-based letter of map amendment ap- 23 proaches. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2170 IS ‘‘(7) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Administrator 1 shall submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 2 and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 3 on Financial Services of the House of Representa- 4 tives an annual progress report on the implementa- 5 tion of this subsection, which shall include rec- 6 ommendations to reduce the cost and improve the 7 implementation of this subsection.’’. 8 (b) REIMBURSEMENT AUTHORITY.—Section 1360 of 9 the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 10 4101) is amended by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(k) REIMBURSEMENT AUTHORITY.—With respect to 12 any State or local agency that assists the Administrator 13 in carrying out the responsibilities of the Administrator 14 under subsection (a)(2), the Administrator may reimburse 15 the State or local agency for the cost of providing that 16 assistance if the State or local agency, in providing the 17 assistance, complies with— 18 ‘‘(1) any standards established by the Adminis- 19 trator under this section; and 20 ‘‘(2) the guidance document entitled ‘Guidance 21 for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping: Physical Map 22 Revision (PMR)’, published by the Administrator in 23 November 2016.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2170.IS S2170 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS