I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1402 

To transfer functions related to the preparation of flood maps from the 

Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the 

Director of the United States Geological Survey, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2019 

Mr. CRAWFORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To transfer functions related to the preparation of flood 

maps from the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency to the Director of the United States 

Geological Survey, 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 ‘‘Scientific Flood Map5 ping Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS RELATED TO PREPARA2 TION OF FLOOD MAPS. 

3 (a) TRANSFER PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after 

4 the date of the enactment of this Act the Administrator 

5 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the 

6 Director of the United States Geological Survey shall— 

7 (1) jointly prepare a report describing the proc8 ess by which the Administrator of the Federal 

9 Emergency Management Agency shall transfer to 

10 the Director of the United States Geological Survey 

11 of the Department of the Interior all functions re12 lated to the preparation of flood maps as required 

13 under section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance 

14 Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101) that the Adminis15 trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen16 cy was responsible for performing on date of the en17 actment of this Act; and 

18 (2) submit such report to Congress. 

19 (b) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.—Not later than 18 

20 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

21 Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 

22 Agency shall transfer to the Director of the United States 

23 Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior the 

24 functions described in subsection (a). 

25 (c) PERSONNEL.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

2 the personnel employed in connection with the of3 fices and functions of the Federal Emergency Man4 agement Agency that are transferred under this Act 

5 shall be transferred to the United States Geological 

6 Survey. 

7 (2) TRANSITION.—The Administrator of the 

8 Federal Emergency Management Agency is author9 ized to use the services of such personnel employed 

10 in connection with the offices and functions of the 

11 Federal Emergency Management Agency that are 

12 transferred under this Act for such period of time as 

13 may reasonably be needed to facilitate the orderly 

14 transfer of such functions. 

15 (3) EFFECT.—Any full-time or part-time per16 sonnel employed in permanent positions shall not be 

17 separated or reduced in grade or compensation be18 cause of the transfer under this Act during the 1- 

19 year period beginning on the date of the enactment 

20 of this Act. 

21 (d) PROPERTY AND RECORDS.—The contracts, liabil22 ities, records, property, and other assets and interests of, 

23 or made available in connection with, the functions trans24 ferred under this Act shall be transferred to the United 

25 States Geological Survey for appropriate allocation. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

2 (a) TECHNICAL MAPPING ADVISORY COUNCIL.—Sec3 tion 100215 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Re4 form Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101a) is amended by strik5 ing ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it appears, except for sub6 section (b) of such section, and inserting ‘‘Director of the 

7 United States Geological Survey’’. 

8 (b) NATIONAL FLOOD MAPPING PROGRAM.—Section 

9 100216 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform 

10 Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101b) is amended by striking 

11 ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it appears, except for sub12 section (f) of such section, and inserting ‘‘Director of the 

13 United States Geological Survey’’. 

14 (c) COORDINATION.—Section 100220 of the Biggert15 Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 

16 4101c) is amended— 

17 (1) by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it 

18 appears and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States 

19 Geological Survey’’; and 

20 (2) in the heading for subsection (b), by strik21 ing ‘‘ADMINISTRATOR’’ and inserting ‘‘UNITED

22 STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY’’. 

23 (d) REMAPPING.—Section 100229 of the Biggert24 Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (126 Stat. 

25 945) is amended by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ each place 

26 it appears and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States 


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1 Geological Survey’’, except for the second place such term 

2 appears in subsection (b)(4)(A) of such section and sub3 sections (b)(4)(B) and (c)(2) of such section. 

4 (e) IDENTIFICATION OF FLOOD-PRONE AREAS.— 

5 Section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 

6 (42 U.S.C. 4101) is amended by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ 

7 each place it appears, except for subsection (d) of such 

8 section, and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States Geo9 logical Survey’’. 

10 (f) APPEALS.—Section 1363 of the National Flood 

11 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104) is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it 

13 appears and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States 

14 Geological Survey’’; and 

15 (2) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘Federal 

16 Emergency Management Agency’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘United States Geological Survey’’. 

18 (g) SCIENTIFIC RESOLUTION PANEL.—Section 

19 1363A of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 

20 U.S.C. 4101–1) is amended— 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ each place it 

22 appears and inserting ‘‘Director of the United States 

23 Geological Survey’’; 

24 (2) by striking ‘‘Federal Emergency Manage25 ment Agency’’ each place it appears, except for subVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1402.IH H1402

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1 section (d), and inserting ‘‘Director of the United 

2 States Geological Survey’’; and 

3 (3) in subsection (d)— 

4 (A) by striking ‘‘, the Federal Emergency 

5 Management Agency shall ensure that for each 

6 such community that’’; 

7 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘the Di8 rector of the United States Geological Survey 

9 shall ensure that for each such community 

10 that’’ after the enumerator; and 

11 (C) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘the 

12 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall 

13 ensure that for each such community that’’. 

14 (h) INITIAL FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAPS.—The 

15 National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is amended— 

16 (1) in section 1307(f) (42 U.S.C. 4014(f)), by 

17 inserting ‘‘or the Director of the United States Geo18 logical Survey’’ after ‘‘published by the Adminis19 trator’’; and 

20 (2) in section 1312(b) (42 U.S.C. 4019(b)), by 

21 inserting ‘‘or the Director of the United States Geo22 logical Survey’’ after ‘‘published by the Adminis23 trator’’ both places it appears. 

24 (i) IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARDS.— 

25 The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 

2 1364(a) (42 U.S.C. 4101a(a)(1) and (2)), by strik3 ing ‘‘identified by the Administrator’’ both places 

4 such term appears and inserting ‘‘identified by the 

5 Director of the United States Geological Survey’’; 

6 and 

7 (2) in section 1365(a) (42 U.S.C. 4104b(a)), by 

8 striking ‘‘identified by the Administrator’’ and in9 serting ‘‘identified by the Director of the United 

10 States Geological Survey’’. 

11 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL MAPPING ADVISORY COUNCIL. 

12 Section 100215 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insur13 ance Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101a), as amended 

14 by the preceding provisions of this Act, is further amend15 ed— 

16 (1) in subsection (b)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

18 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 

19 (A) through (E) as subparagraphs (B) 

20 through (F), respectively; 

21 (ii) by inserting before subparagraph 

22 (B), as so redesignated by clause (i) of this 

23 subparagraph, the following new subpara24 graph: 


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1 ‘‘(A) the Director of the United States Ge2 ological Survey;’’; and 

3 (iii) in subparagraph (F), as so redes4 ignated by clause (i) of this subpara5 graph— 

6 (I) in the matter preceding clause 

7 (i), by striking ‘‘16’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘17’’; 

9 (II) in clause (xiii), by striking 

10 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

11 (III) in clause (xiv), by striking 

12 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

13 and’’; and 

14 (IV) by adding at the end the fol15 lowing new clause: 

16 ‘‘(xv) a member of a recognized pro17 fessional real estate brokerage associa18 tion.’’; and 

19 (B) in paragraph h(2), by striking ‘‘para20 graph (1)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

21 (1)(F)’’; and 

22 (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol23 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(e) CHAIRPERSON.—The Chairperson of the Council 

2 shall be the Director of the United States Geological Sur3 vey.’’. 

4 SEC. 5. FEDERAL POLICY FEE. 

5 The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is amend6 ed— 

7 (1) in section 1307(a) (42 U.S.C. 4014(a))— 

8 (A) in paragraph (1)(B)(iii)— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘(including the costs of 

10 mapping activities under section 1360)’’; 

11 and 

12 (ii) by striking ‘‘which shall be recov13 ered by a fee charged to policyholders and 

14 such fee shall not be subject to any agents’ 

15 commissions, company expense allowances, 

16 or State or local premium taxes’’ and in17 serting ‘‘but not including the costs of 

18 mapping activities under section 1360’’; 

19 and 

20 (B) in paragraph (2), in the matter pre21 ceding subparagraph (A)— 

22 (i) by striking ‘‘that shall not be not 

23 subject to any agents’ commission, com24 pany expenses allowances, or State or local 

25 premium taxes’’; 


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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘(including’’ and in2 serting ‘‘but not including’’; and 

3 (iii) by striking the closing paren4 theses; and 

5 (2) in section 1360 (42 U.S.C. 4101), by add6 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(k) MAPPING FEE.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent provided in 

9 advance in an appropriation Act, the Administrator, 

10 in consultation with the Director of the United 

11 States Geological Survey, shall charge policy holders 

12 a fee for the purpose of recovering the cost of map13 ping activities under this section. 

14 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—As part of the consulta15 tion under paragraph (1), the Director of the United 

16 States Geological Survey shall determine the amount 

17 of such fee. 

18 ‘‘(3) OTHER CONSIDERATIONS.—The fee under 

19 this subsection shall not be subject to any agent’s 

20 commissions, company expense allowances, or State 

21 or local premium taxes. 

22 ‘‘(4) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—The Adminis23 trator shall deposit the fees collected pursuant to 

24 paragraph (1) into a separate account in the Treas25 ury to be called the ‘Flood Insurance Risk Mapping 


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1 Fund’, which shall be available to the Director of the 

2 United States Geological Survey for mapping activi3 ties under this section without further appropria4 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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