I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1797 

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

accountability for areas repetitively damaged by floods, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself and Mrs. WAGNER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to 

ensure community accountability for areas repetitively 

damaged by floods, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Repeatedly Flooded 

5 Communities Preparation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPETITIVELY 

2 FLOODED AREAS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1361 of the National 

4 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4102) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(e) COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEAT7 EDLY DAMAGED AREAS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

9 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered community’ means 

10 a community— 

11 ‘‘(i) that is participating in the na12 tional flood insurance program under sec13 tion 1315; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) within which are located— 

15 ‘‘(I) not fewer than 50 repetitive 

16 loss structures with respect to each of 

17 which, during any 10-year period, 

18 there have been not fewer than 2 

19 claims for payments under flood in20 surance coverage for a total amount 

21 that is more than $1,000; 

22 ‘‘(II) not fewer than 5 severe re23 petitive loss structures for which miti24 gation activities meeting the stand25 ards for approval under section 


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1 1366(c)(2)(A) have not been con2 ducted; or 

3 ‘‘(III) a public facility or a pri4 vate nonprofit facility that has re5 ceived assistance for repair, restora6 tion, reconstruction, or replacement 

7 under section 406 of the Robert T. 

8 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer9 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 5172) relating to more than 1 flood11 ing event during the most recent 10- 

12 year period; 

13 ‘‘(B) the terms ‘private nonprofit facility’ 

14 and ‘public facility’ have the meanings given 

15 those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. 

16 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist17 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122); and 

18 ‘‘(C) the term ‘severe repetitive loss struc19 ture’ has the meaning given the term in section 

20 1366(h). 

21 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERED COMMU22 NITIES.—The Administrator shall, by regulation, re23 quire a covered community to— 

24 ‘‘(A) determine the areas within the cov25 ered community in which properties described 


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1 in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) or flood-damaged facili2 ties are located in order to identify areas that 

3 are repeatedly damaged by floods; 

4 ‘‘(B) assess, with assistance from the Ad5 ministrator, the continuing risks to the repeat6 edly damaged areas identified under subpara7 graph (A); 

8 ‘‘(C) develop a community-specific plan for 

9 mitigating continuing flood risks to the repeat10 edly damaged areas identified under subpara11 graph (A); 

12 ‘‘(D) submit the plan described in subpara13 graph (C) and any plan updates to the Admin14 istrator at appropriate intervals; 

15 ‘‘(E) implement the plan described in sub16 paragraph (C); and 

17 ‘‘(F) subject to section 552a of title 5, 

18 United States Code, make the plan described in 

19 subparagraph (C), any updates to the plan, and 

20 reports on progress in reducing flood risk avail21 able to the public. 

22 ‘‘(3) INCORPORATION INTO EXISTING PLANS.— 

23 A covered community may incorporate a plan devel24 oped under paragraph (2)(C) into a mitigation plan 

25 developed under— 


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1 ‘‘(A) section 1366; and 

2 ‘‘(B) section 322 of the Robert T. Stafford 

3 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 5165). 

5 ‘‘(4) ASSISTANCE TO COMMUNITIES.— 

6 ‘‘(A) DATA.—To assist a covered commu7 nity in developing a plan required under para8 graph (2)(C), the Administrator shall, upon re9 quest, provide the covered community with ap10 propriate data regarding the property addresses 

11 and dates of claims associated with insured 

12 properties within the covered community. 

13 ‘‘(B) MITIGATION GRANTS.—In making a 

14 determination regarding financial assistance 

15 under this Act, the Administrator may consider 

16 the extent to which a covered community— 

17 ‘‘(i) has complied with this subsection; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(ii) is working to remedy problems 

20 with respect to repeatedly flooded areas. 

21 ‘‘(5) SANCTIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

23 may, by regulations issued in accordance with 

24 the procedures required under section 553 of 

25 title 5, United States Code, impose appropriate 


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1 sanctions on a covered community that fails 

2 to— 

3 ‘‘(i) comply with this subsection; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) make sufficient progress in re5 ducing the flood risks to areas in the cov6 ered community that are repeatedly dam7 aged by floods. 

8 ‘‘(B) NOTICE.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Before imposing 

10 any sanctions under this paragraph, the 

11 Administrator shall provide the covered 

12 community that is subject to the sanctions 

13 with notice of the violation that may sub14 ject the covered community to the sanc15 tions. 

16 ‘‘(ii) CONTENTS.—The notice required 

17 under clause (i) shall include recommenda18 tions for actions that the covered commu19 nity receiving the notice may take in order 

20 to bring the covered community into com21 pliance. 

22 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 

23 appropriate sanctions to impose under this 

24 paragraph, the Administrator shall consider the 


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1 resources available to the covered community 

2 that is subject to the sanctions, including— 

3 ‘‘(i) any Federal funding received by 

4 the covered community; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the portion of the covered com6 munity that lies within an area having spe7 cial flood hazards; and 

8 ‘‘(iii) any other factor that makes it 

9 difficult for the covered community to con10 duct mitigation activities for flood-prone 

11 structures. 

12 ‘‘(6) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

13 6 years after the date of enactment of this sub14 section, and not less frequently than once every 2 

15 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to 

16 Congress a report regarding the progress made by 

17 covered communities with respect to implementing 

18 plans developed under paragraph (2)(C).’’. 

19 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

20 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

21 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue regu22 lations necessary to carry out subsection (e) of section 

23 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 

24 U.S.C. 4102), as added by subsection (a) of this section. 

Æ 


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