I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4803

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure homeowners

are provided adequate notice of flood map changes and a fair opportunity

to appeal such changes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 29, 2000

Mr. STARK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to

ensure homeowners are provided adequate notice of flood

map changes and a fair opportunity to appeal such

changes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Flood Insur5 ance Program Fairness Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION AND APPEAL OF MAP CHANGES.

2 Subsection (h) of section 1360 of the National Flood

3 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101(h)) is amended

4 to read as follows:

5 ‘‘(h) NOTIFICATION AND APPEAL OF FLOOD MAP

6 CHANGES.—

7 ‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION.—In the case of any change

8 to flood insurance map panels, including any change

9 in the form of a letter of map amendment or a letter

10 of map revision, the Director shall provide notice of

11 such change by—

12 ‘‘(A) providing the chief executive officer of

13 each community affected by the change, by reg14 istered mail, a copy of the revised maps for

15 such community and a statement explaining the

16 process under this subsection to appeal to the

17 Director for changes in such revised maps; and

18 ‘‘(B) causing notice of such changes to be

19 published in the Federal Register, which notice

20 shall include information sufficient to identify

21 the communities affected and the changes

22 made, information explaining how to obtain

23 copies of the changes and revisions, and a state24 ment explaining the process under this sub25 section to appeal to the Director for changes in

26 such revised maps.
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1 ‘‘(2) APPEALS.—With respect to any change to

2 a flood insurance map panel, during the 30-day pe3 riod beginning upon the occurrence of the last of the

4 actions required under subparagraphs (A) and (B)

5 of paragraph (1), a community affected by the

6 change may appeal the change by submitting an ob7 jection to the change, in writing, to the Director.

8 Such an objection may provide additional evidence

9 relating to the objection or a request for additional

10 time to obtain information related to the objection.

11 The right of a community to appeal a change to

12 flood insurance map panels under this subsection

13 shall be in addition to any right or opportunity for

14 a community to appeal such a change under section

15 1363.

16 ‘‘(3) RESPONSE TO APPEAL.—During the 30-

17 day period that begins upon the receipt by the Di18 rector of an objection pursuant to paragraph (2), the

19 Director shall determine whether to deny the objec20 tion, revise the changes to the flood insurance map

21 panels in response to the objection, or to grant addi22 tional time to the community to obtain evidence re23 lated to the objection. Immediately upon making

24 such determination, the Director shall notify the
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1 chief executive officer of the community, in writing

2 and by registered mail, of such determination.

3 ‘‘(4) ADDITIONAL TIME.—If the Director grants

4 a community additional time to obtain evidence re5 lated to the objection—

6 ‘‘(A) the notification pursuant to para7 graph (3) shall state the amount of time grant8 ed; and

9 ‘‘(B) during the 30-day period beginning

10 upon the earlier of the submission of such evi11 dence or the expiration of such additional time

12 granted, the Director shall determine whether

13 to deny the objection or revise the changes to

14 flood insurance map panels in response to the

15 objection.

16 Immediately upon making such determination, the

17 Director shall notify the chief executive officer of the

18 community, in writing and by registered mail, of

19 such determination.

20 ‘‘(5) NOTIFICATION TO HOMEOWNERS.—

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30

22 days after any final determination described in

23 subparagraph (B), the Director shall, by first

24 class mail, provide written notification, to each

25 owner of real property affected by the change to
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1 flood insurance map panels resulting from such

2 determination, of—

3 ‘‘(i) the status of such property with

4 respect to flood zone and flood insurance

5 purchase requirements under this Act and

6 the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973;

7 and

8 ‘‘(ii) information regarding how and

9 where to obtain any coverage required and

10 the estimated cost of such coverage.

11 ‘‘(B) FINAL DETERMINATIONS.—A final

12 determination described in this subparagraph

13 is—

14 ‘‘(i) the expiration of the period under

15 paragraph (2) without receipt by the Di16 rector of an objection in accordance with

17 such paragraph;

18 ‘‘(ii) a determination pursuant to

19 paragraph (3) or (4)(B) to deny an objec20 tion; or

21 ‘‘(iii) a determination pursuant to

22 paragraph (3) or (4)(B) to revise the

23 changes to flood insurance map panels in

24 response to the objection in a manner such
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1 that such panels are altered from the pan2 els in effect before such changes.

3 ‘‘(6) EFFECTIVE DATE OF CHANGES.—A

4 change to a flood insurance map panel shall take

5 effect—

6 ‘‘(A) with respect to any property for

7 which such change results in the initial applica8 bility of any requirement under this Act or the

9 Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to pur10 chase flood insurance for the property, upon the

11 expiration of the 6-month period beginning

12 upon the date that notice under paragraph (5)

13 is mailed to the owner of such property; and

14 ‘‘(B) with respect to any property for

15 which such change results in elimination of any

16 such purchase requirement or decreases the

17 cost of coverage required, immediately upon the

18 final determination under paragraph (5) re19 garding such change.

20 ‘‘(7) REIMBURSEMENT OF PROPERTY OWNERS

21 FOR COSTS INCURRED IN APPEALS.—If an owner of

22 a real property affected by a change to flood insur23 ance map panels incurs expense in connection with

24 the services of surveyors, engineers, or similar serv25 ices, but not including legal services, in effecting any
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1 appeal of such change to the Director, which is suc2 cessful in whole or in part, the Director shall reim3 burse such individual for such expense. The amount

4 of such reimbursement shall be determined by the

5 Director, based on the ratio of the successful portion

6 of the appeal as compared to the entire appeal. The

7 Director shall apply such ratio to the average cost

8 of such services in the community for jobs of a simi9 lar size.’’.

10 SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION OF ESTABLISHMENT OF FLOOD ELE11 VATIONS.

12 Section 1363 of the National Flood Insurance Act of

13 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104) is amended by striking the section

14 designation and all that follows through the end of sub15 section (a) and inserting the following:

16 ‘‘SEC. 1363. (a) In establishing projected flood ele17 vations for land use purposes with respect to any commu18 nity pursuant to section 1361, the Director shall first pro19 pose such determinations—

20 ‘‘(1) by providing the chief executive officer of

21 each community affected by the proposed elevations,

22 by registered mail, notice of the elevations, including

23 a copy of the maps for the elevations for such com24 munity and a statement explaining the process
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1 under this section to appeal for changes in such ele2 vations;

3 ‘‘(2) by causing notice of such elevations to be

4 published in the Federal Register, which notice shall

5 include information sufficient to identify the ele6 vation determinations and the communities affected,

7 information explaining how to obtain copies of the

8 elevations, and a statement explaining the process

9 under this section to appeal for changes in the ele10 vations; and

11 ‘‘(3) by publishing the elevations in a prominent

12 local newspaper.’’.

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