II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1936 

To strengthen the national flood insurance program, encourage participation 

in the program, and provide owners of properties not located in flood 

hazard zones a one-time opportunity to purchase flood insurance coverage 

for a period covering such hurricane. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 27, 2005 

Mr. LOTT introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To strengthen the national flood insurance program, encourage participation in the program, and provide owners 

of properties not located in flood hazard zones a onetime opportunity to purchase flood insurance coverage 

for a period covering such hurricane. 

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 ‘‘Hurricanes Katrina 

5 and Rita Flood Insurance Buy-In Act of 2005’’. 
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•S 1936 IS

1 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY FLOOD INSURANCE BUY-IN PROGRAM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Federal 

3 Emergency Management Agency shall make available 

4 flood insurance coverage under the national flood insur5 ance program for eligible structures, in accordance with 

6 this section. 

7 (b) SCOPE OF COVERAGE.— 

8 (1) ELIGIBLE LOSSES.—Coverage may be made 

9 available under this section only for damage or loss 

10 to an eligible structure, but not including any con11 tents thereof, from flooding resulting from Hurri12 cane Katrina or Hurricane Rita of 2005. 

13 (2) AMOUNT.—The amount of coverage made 

14 available under this section for an eligible structure 

15 may not exceed the lesser of— 

16 (A) the maximum amount of coverage that 

17 may be made available for such structure under 

18 the national flood insurance program; and 

19 (B) the amount of coverage provided for 

20 the structure, as of August 29, 2005, under the 

21 policy for losses caused by wind or windstorm 

22 (as referred to in subsection (c)(4)). 

23 (c) ELIGIBLE STRUCTURES.—For purposes of this 

24 section, an eligible structure is a structure that— 

25 (1) sustained damage from flooding resulting 

26 from Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita of 2005; 
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•S 1936 IS

1 (2) is of a type (including residential properties, 

2 business properties, and others) for which coverage 

3 was generally made available under the national 

4 flood insurance program as of August 29, 2005; 

5 (3) is located in a covered disaster area; 

6 (4) was covered— 

7 (A) in the case of a structure damaged by 

8 flooding resulting from Hurricane Katrina, as 

9 of August 29, 2005, by an insurance policy for 

10 losses caused by wind or windstorm; and 

11 (B) in the case of a structure damaged by 

12 flooding resulting from Hurricane Rita, as of 

13 September 23, 2005, by such a policy; 

14 (5) is not located in an area that has been iden15 tified by the Director as an area having special flood 

16 hazards (as such term is used for purposes of sec17 tion 102 of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 

18 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a)); and 

19 (6) was not covered by flood insurance made 

20 available under the national flood insurance program 

21 at the time of such damage. 

22 (d) PREMIUMS.— 

23 (1) AMOUNT.—The Director shall charge, for 

24 coverage made available under this section for an eli25 gible structure, premiums in the amount equal to 
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•S 1936 IS

1 105 percent of the aggregate amount of premiums 

2 that would have been charged, at the time, for cov3 erage for the structure under the national flood in4 surance program (for the type and amount of cov5 erage provided) for the 10-year period that ends 

6 upon the date of purchase of such coverage. 

7 (2) DEDUCTION FROM CLAIMS.—The Director 

8 shall provide that a purchaser of coverage made 

9 available under this section may pay premiums 

10 charged for such coverage under paragraph (1) by 

11 deducting such amounts from the amount of any 

12 claims payable under such coverage. 

13 (3) CREDITS TO NFIF.—There shall be credited 

14 to the National Flood Insurance Fund established 

15 under section 1310 of the National Flood Insurance 

16 Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4017) the following 

17 amounts: 

18 (A) Any premiums collected pursuant to 

19 this section. 

20 (B) From amounts appropriated under 

21 subsection (i)(1), an amount equal to the 

22 amount of any premiums charged for coverage 

23 made available under this subsection that are 

24 not collected by the Director as a result of the 

25 operation of paragraph (2). 
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1 (e) CLAIMS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Claims for damage or loss 

3 pursuant to coverage made available under this sec4 tion may be paid only from amounts made available 

5 in appropriation Acts under subsection (i). 

6 (2) EXCLUSION.—Amounts in the National 

7 Flood Insurance Fund established under section 

8 1310 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 

9 (42 U.S.C. 4017), including any amount credited to 

10 such Fund under subsection (d)(3), shall not be 

11 available for paying claims under coverage made 

12 available under this section. 

13 (f) REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN FUTURE COVERAGE

14 AND TAKE MITIGATION ACTIONS.—The Director may not 

15 make coverage available under this section for an eligible 

16 structure unless the owner of the structure enters into a 

17 binding agreement, contained in such deed restrictions as 

18 the Director considers appropriate, to ensure that such 

19 owner, and any future owners, will— 

20 (1) at all times after purchasing coverage under 

21 this section for the structure, in perpetuity, maintain 

22 coverage under the national flood insurance pro23 gram, for any structures located at any time on the 

24 same property on which, at the time of purchase, 
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1 such eligible structure is located, in an amount at 

2 least equal to the lesser of— 

3 (A) the value of the structure, as deter4 mined by the Director; or 

5 (B) the maximum limit of coverage made 

6 available with respect to the particular type of 

7 property under the national flood insurance 

8 program; and 

9 (2) accept any offer to take mitigation actions 

10 or activities made, with respect to the structure, 

11 under a mitigation program under section 1323, 

12 1361A, or 1366 of the National Flood Insurance Act 

13 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4030, 4102a, 4104c). 

14 (g) PREMIUM RATES FOR FUTURE COVERAGE.—In 

15 establishing rates for flood insurance coverage, other than 

16 coverage under this section, made available under the na17 tional flood insurance program, the Director shall not con18 sider, in any manner— 

19 (1) any premiums charged or collected under 

20 subsection (d); 

21 (2) any claims paid pursuant to coverage made 

22 available under this section; or 

23 (3) any amounts appropriated under subsection 

24 (i). 
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1 (h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

2 following definitions shall apply: 

3 (1) COVERED DISASTER AREA.—The term ‘‘cov4 ered disaster area’’ means an area— 

5 (A) for which a major disaster was de6 clared by the President pursuant to title IV of 

7 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

8 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et 

9 seq.) as a result of Hurricane Katrina or Hurri10 cane Rita of 2005; and 

11 (B) in which the sale of flood insurance 

12 coverage was available under the National 

13 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 

14 et seq.) as of August 25, 2005. 

15 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

16 the Director of the Federal Emergency Management 

17 Agency. 

18 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 (1) FOR CLAIMS PAYMENTS.—There are au20 thorized to be appropriated to the Director, such 

21 sums as may be necessary to cover all costs of flood 

22 insurance coverage made available under this sec23 tion, including administrative expenses and claims 

24 under such coverage. 
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1 (2) FOR MITIGATION ASSISTANCE.—There are 

2 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

3 necessary, for the National Flood Insurance Fund 

4 established under section 1310 of the National 

5 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4017) and 

6 for the National Flood Mitigation Fund established 

7 under section 1367 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 4104d), 

8 for use only for mitigation activities under the pro9 grams under sections 1323, 1361A, and 1366 of the 

10 National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

11 4030, 4102a, 4104c), as appropriate, for eligible 

12 structures. 

13 (j) PUBLIC NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after 

14 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue 

15 and widely disseminate in the covered disaster area public 

16 notice of the procedures to be followed for application for 

17 flood insurance authorized by this Act. 

18 (k) TERMINATION.—The Director may not enter into 

19 any contract or policy for coverage under this section ex20 cept pursuant to an application for such coverage sub21 mitted to the Director before the expiration of the 90-day 

22 period beginning on the date that the public notice de23 scribed in subsection (j) is issued. 

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