National Flood Insurance Program Fairness Act

Summary: Requires the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide notice of any change to flood insurance map panels, including any change in a letter of map amendment or a letter of map revision by: (1) providing the chief executive officer of each community affected by the change, by registered mail, a copy of the revised maps for such community and a statement explaining the process under this Act to appeal to the Director for changes in such revised maps; and (2) causing notice of such changes to be published in the Federal Register, and a statement explaining the process (under this Act) to appeal to the Director for changes in such revised maps.
Allows a community affected by the change to appeal the change.
Requires the Director: (1) during a 30-day period that begins upon the receipt of an objection, to determine whether to deny the objection, revise the changes to the panels in response to the objection, or to grant additional time to the community to obtain evidence related to the objection; and (2) to notify the chief executive of the community, in writing and by registered mail, of such determination.
Requires the Director, not later than 30 days after any final determination as described by this Act, to provide written notification to each owner of real property affected by the change to panels resulting from such determination.
Requires the Director, if an owner of real property affected by a change to panels incurs expense in connection with the services of surveyors, engineers, or similar services (but not legal services) in effecting any appeal of such change to the Director which is successful, to reimburse such individual for such expense.
Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to repeal the requirement for the publication or notification of proposed flood elevation determinations to require the Director, in establishing projected flood elevations for land use purposes for any community, to first propose such determinations by: (1) providing the chief executive officer of each community affected by the proposed elevations, by registered mail, notice of the elevations, including a copy of the maps and a statement explaining the process to appeal for changes in such elevations; (2) causing notice of such elevations to be published in the Federal Register, which shall include a statement explaining the process to appeal for changes in such elevations; and (3) publishing the elevations in a prominent local newspaper.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Flood Insurance Program 
Fairness Act''.

SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION AND APPEAL OF MAP CHANGES.

    Subsection (h) of section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act 
of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101(h)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(h) Notification and Appeal of Flood Map Changes.--
            ``(1) Notification.--In the case of any change to flood 
        insurance map panels, including any change in the form of a 
        letter of map amendment or a letter of map revision, the 
        Director shall provide notice of such change by--
                    ``(A) providing the chief executive officer of each 
                community affected by the change, by registered mail, a 
                copy of the revised maps for such community and a 
                statement explaining the process under this subsection 
                to appeal to the Director for changes in such revised 
                maps; and
                    ``(B) causing notice of such changes to be 
                published in the Federal Register, which notice shall 
                include information sufficient to identify the 
                communities affected and the changes made, information 
                explaining how to obtain copies of the changes and 
                revisions, and a statement explaining the process under 
                this subsection to appeal to the Director for changes 
                in such revised maps.
            ``(2) Appeals.--With respect to any change to a flood 
        insurance map panel, during the 30-day period beginning upon 
        the occurrence of the last of the actions required under 
        subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1), a community 
        affected by the change may appeal the change by submitting an 
        objection to the change, in writing, to the Director. Such an 
        objection may provide additional evidence relating to the 
        objection or a request for additional time to obtain 
        information related to the objection. The right of a community 
        to appeal a change to flood insurance map panels under this 
        subsection shall be in addition to any right or opportunity for 
        a community to appeal such a change under section 1363.
            ``(3) Response to appeal.--During the 30-day period that 
        begins upon the receipt by the Director of an objection 
        pursuant to paragraph (2), the Director shall determine whether 
        to deny the objection, revise the changes to the flood 
        insurance map panels in response to the objection, or to grant 
        additional time to the community to obtain evidence related to 
        the objection. Immediately upon making such determination, the 
        Director shall notify the chief executive officer of the 
        community, in writing and by registered mail, of such 
        determination.
            ``(4) Additional time.--If the Director grants a community 
        additional time to obtain evidence related to the objection--
                    ``(A) the notification pursuant to paragraph (3) 
                shall state the amount of time granted; and
                    ``(B) during the 30-day period beginning upon the 
                earlier of the submission of such evidence or the 
                expiration of such additional time granted, the 
                Director shall determine whether to deny the objection 
                or revise the changes to flood insurance map panels in 
                response to the objection.
        Immediately upon making such determination, the Director shall 
        notify the chief executive officer of the community, in writing 
        and by registered mail, of such determination.
            ``(5) Notification to homeowners.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 30 days after any 
                final determination described in subparagraph (B), the 
                Director shall, by first class mail, provide written 
                notification, to each owner of real property affected 
                by the change to flood insurance map panels resulting 
                from such determination, of--
                            ``(i) the status of such property with 
                        respect to flood zone and flood insurance 
                        purchase requirements under this Act and the 
                        Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973; and
                            ``(ii) information regarding how and where 
                        to obtain any coverage required and the 
                        estimated cost of such coverage.
                    ``(B) Final determinations.--A final determination 
                described in this subparagraph is--
                            ``(i) the expiration of the period under 
                        paragraph (2) without receipt by the Director 
                        of an objection in accordance with such 
                        paragraph;
                            ``(ii) a determination pursuant to 
                        paragraph (3) or (4)(B) to deny an objection; 
                        or
                            ``(iii) a determination pursuant to 
                        paragraph (3) or (4)(B) to revise the changes 
                        to flood insurance map panels in response to 
                        the objection in a manner such that such panels 
are altered from the panels in effect before such changes.
            ``(6) Effective date of changes.--A change to a flood 
        insurance map panel shall take effect--
                    ``(A) with respect to any property for which such 
                change results in the initial applicability of any 
                requirement under this Act or the Flood Disaster 
                Protection Act of 1973 to purchase flood insurance for 
                the property, upon the expiration of the 6-month period 
                beginning upon the date that notice under paragraph (5) 
                is mailed to the owner of such property; and
                    ``(B) with respect to any property for which such 
                change results in elimination of any such purchase 
                requirement or decreases the cost of coverage required, 
                immediately upon the final determination under 
                paragraph (5) regarding such change.
            ``(7) Reimbursement of property owners for costs incurred 
        in appeals.--If an owner of a real property affected by a 
        change to flood insurance map panels incurs expense in 
        connection with the services of surveyors, engineers, or 
        similar services, but not including legal services, in 
        effecting any appeal of such change to the Director, which is 
        successful in whole or in part, the Director shall reimburse 
        such individual for such expense. The amount of such 
        reimbursement shall be determined by the Director, based on the 
        ratio of the successful portion of the appeal as compared to 
        the entire appeal. The Director shall apply such ratio to the 
        average cost of such services in the community for jobs of a 
        similar size.''.

SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION OF ESTABLISHMENT OF FLOOD ELEVATIONS.

    Section 1363 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
4104) is amended by striking the section designation and all that 
follows through the end of subsection (a) and inserting the following:
    ``Sec. 1363. (a) In establishing projected flood elevations for 
land use purposes with respect to any community pursuant to section 
1361, the Director shall first propose such determinations--
            ``(1) by providing the chief executive officer of each 
        community affected by the proposed elevations, by registered 
        mail, notice of the elevations, including a copy of the maps 
        for the elevations for such community and a statement 
        explaining the process under this section to appeal for changes 
        in such elevations;
            ``(2) by causing notice of such elevations to be published 
        in the Federal Register, which notice shall include information 
        sufficient to identify the elevation determinations and the 
        communities affected, information explaining how to obtain 
        copies of the elevations, and a statement explaining the 
        process under this section to appeal for changes in the 
        elevations; and
            ``(3) by publishing the elevations in a prominent local 
        newspaper.''.