II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1417 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 MAY 3, 2023 Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. SCHATZ) 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1417 IS SEC. 2. COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEATEDLY 1 FLOODED AREAS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1361 of the National 3 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4102) is amended 4 by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(e) COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEAT- 6 EDLY DAMAGED AREAS.— 7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 8 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered community’ means 9 a community— 10 ‘‘(i) that is participating in the na- 11 tional flood insurance program under sec- 12 tion 1315; and 13 ‘‘(ii) within which are located— 14 ‘‘(I) not fewer than 50 repetitive 15 loss structures with respect to each of 16 which, during any 10-year period, 17 there have been not fewer than 2 18 claims for payments under flood in- 19 surance coverage for a total amount 20 that is more than $1,000; 21 ‘‘(II) not fewer than 5 severe re- 22 petitive loss structures for which miti- 23 gation activities meeting the stand- 24 ards for approval under section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1417 IS 1366(c)(2)(A) have not been con- 1 ducted; or 2 ‘‘(III) a public facility or a pri- 3 vate nonprofit facility that has re- 4 ceived assistance for repair, restora- 5 tion, reconstruction, or replacement 6 under section 406 of the Robert T. 7 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- 8 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 9 5172) relating to more than 1 flood- 10 ing event during the most recent 10- 11 year period; 12 ‘‘(B) the terms ‘private nonprofit facility’ 13 and ‘public facility’ have the meanings given 14 those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. 15 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 16 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122); and 17 ‘‘(C) the term ‘severe repetitive loss struc- 18 ture’ has the meaning given the term in section 19 1366(h). 20 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERED COMMU- 21 NITIES.—The Administrator shall, by regulation, re- 22 quire a covered community to— 23 ‘‘(A) determine the areas within the cov- 24 ered community in which properties described 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1417 IS in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) or flood-damaged facili- 1 ties are located in order to identify areas that 2 are repeatedly damaged by floods; 3 ‘‘(B) assess, with assistance from the Ad- 4 ministrator, the continuing risks to the repeat- 5 edly damaged areas identified under subpara- 6 graph (A); 7 ‘‘(C) develop a community-specific plan for 8 mitigating continuing flood risks to the repeat- 9 edly damaged areas identified under subpara- 10 graph (A); 11 ‘‘(D) submit the plan described in subpara- 12 graph (C), and any plan updates, to the Admin- 13 istrator at appropriate intervals; 14 ‘‘(E) implement the plan described in sub- 15 paragraph (C) and any updates to the plan; and 16 ‘‘(F) subject to section 552a of title 5, 17 United States Code, make the plan described in 18 subparagraph (C), any updates to the plan, and 19 reports on progress in reducing flood risk avail- 20 able to the public. 21 ‘‘(3) INCORPORATION INTO EXISTING PLANS.— 22 A covered community may incorporate a plan devel- 23 oped under paragraph (2)(C), including any updates 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1417 IS to such a plan, into a mitigation plan developed 1 under— 2 ‘‘(A) section 1366; and 3 ‘‘(B) section 322 of the Robert T. Stafford 4 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 5 (42 U.S.C. 5165). 6 ‘‘(4) ASSISTANCE TO COMMUNITIES.— 7 ‘‘(A) DATA.—To assist a covered commu- 8 nity in developing a plan required under para- 9 graph (2)(C), including any updates to such a 10 plan, the Administrator shall, upon request, 11 provide the covered community with appropriate 12 data regarding the property addresses and 13 dates of claims associated with insured prop- 14 erties within the covered community. 15 ‘‘(B) MITIGATION GRANTS.—In making a 16 determination regarding financial assistance 17 under this Act, the Administrator may consider 18 the extent to which a covered community— 19 ‘‘(i) has complied with this subsection; 20 and 21 ‘‘(ii) is working to remedy problems 22 with respect to repeatedly flooded areas. 23 ‘‘(5) SANCTIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1417 IS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 1 may, by regulations issued in accordance with 2 the procedures required under section 553 of 3 title 5, United States Code, impose appropriate 4 sanctions on a covered community that fails 5 to— 6 ‘‘(i) comply with this subsection; or 7 ‘‘(ii) make sufficient progress in re- 8 ducing the flood risks to areas in the cov- 9 ered community that are repeatedly dam- 10 aged by floods. 11 ‘‘(B) SUSPENSION AND PROBATION.—The 12 sanctions described in subparagraph (A) may 13 include suspension from the national flood in- 14 surance program or probation under that pro- 15 gram, as provided under section 59.24 of title 16 44, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on 17 the date of enactment of this subsection. 18 ‘‘(C) NOTICE.— 19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Before imposing 20 any sanctions under this paragraph, the 21 Administrator shall provide the covered 22 community that is subject to the sanctions 23 with notice of the violation that may sub- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 1417 IS ject the covered community to the sanc- 1 tions. 2 ‘‘(ii) CONTENTS.—The notice required 3 under clause (i) shall include recommenda- 4 tions for actions that the covered commu- 5 nity receiving the notice may take in order 6 to bring the covered community into com- 7 pliance. 8 ‘‘(D) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 9 appropriate sanctions to impose under this 10 paragraph, the Administrator shall consider the 11 resources available to the covered community 12 that is subject to the sanctions, including— 13 ‘‘(i) any Federal funding received by 14 the covered community; 15 ‘‘(ii) the portion of the covered com- 16 munity that lies within an area having spe- 17 cial flood hazards; and 18 ‘‘(iii) any other factor that makes it 19 difficult for the covered community to con- 20 duct mitigation activities for flood-prone 21 structures. 22 ‘‘(6) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 23 6 years after the date of enactment of this sub- 24 section, and not less frequently than once every 2 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 1417 IS years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to 1 Congress a report regarding the progress made by 2 covered communities with respect to implementing 3 plans developed under paragraph (2)(C), including 4 any updates to those plans.’’. 5 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 6 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 7 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue regu- 8 lations necessary to carry out subsection (e) of section 9 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 10 U.S.C. 4102), as added by subsection (a) of this section. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB