I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2078 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to provide for greater 

notification of flood insurance rate map changes and the appeals process, 

extensions of the appeals process, reimbursement for successful map 

change petitions outside of the standard appeals process, and removal 

of certain properties from flood insurance rate maps. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2011 

Mr. LOEBSACK 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 

provide for greater notification of flood insurance rate 

map changes and the appeals process, extensions of the 

appeals process, reimbursement for successful map 

change petitions outside of the standard appeals process, 

and removal of certain properties from flood insurance 

rate maps. 

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 ‘‘Homeowners Flood 

5 Insurance Awareness Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TELEVISION AND RADIO ANNOUNCEMENT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1363 of the National 

3 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting after ‘‘deter6 minations’’ the following: ‘‘by notifying a prominent 

7 local television and radio station, by notifying each 

8 Member of the House of Representatives and each 

9 Senator that represents any part of such commu10 nity,’’; and 

11 (2) in the first sentence of subsection (b), by in12 serting before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, 

13 shall publish notice of the 90-day period for appeals 

14 referred to in the second sentence, and shall notify 

15 a prominent local television and radio station and 

16 the Members of the House of Representatives and 

17 Senators referred to in subsection (a) at least once 

18 during the same 10-day period’’. 

19 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub20 section (a) shall apply with respect to any flood elevation 

21 determination for any area in a community that has not, 

22 as of the date of the enactment of this Act, been issued 

23 a Letter of Final Determination for such determination 

24 under the flood insurance map modernization process. 


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1 SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF APPEAL PERIOD. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1363(b) of the National 

3 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104(b)), as 

4 amended by section 1(a)(2), is further amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘(b) The Director’’ and insert6 ing ‘‘(b)(1) The Director’’; and 

7 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

8 paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(2) The Administrator shall grant an extension of 

10 the 90-day period for appeals referred to in paragraph (1) 

11 for 90 additional days if an affected community certifies 

12 to the Administrator, after the expiration of at least 60 

13 days of such period, that the community— 

14 ‘‘(A) believes there are property owners or les15 sees in the community who are unaware of such pe16 riod for appeals; and 

17 ‘‘(B) will utilize the extension to notify property 

18 owners or lessees who are affected by the proposed 

19 flood elevation determinations of the period for ap20 peals and the opportunity to appeal the determina21 tions proposed by the Administrator.’’. 

22 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub23 section (a) shall apply with respect to any flood elevation 

24 determination for any area in a community that has not, 

25 as of the date of the enactment of this Act, been issued 


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1 a Letter of Final Determination for such determination 

2 under the flood insurance map modernization process. 

3 SEC. 4. REIMBURSEMENT FOR SUCCESSFUL MAP CHANGES 

4 OUTSIDE OF APPEAL PROCESS. 

5 Section 1363(f) of the National Flood Insurance Act 

6 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104(f)) is amended— 

7 (1) by inserting ‘‘or any other petition to dis8 pute the designation of a property as being located 

9 in an area with a special flood hazard’’ after ‘‘sub10 section (b) or (c)’’; and 

11 (2) by inserting ‘‘or other petition’’ after ‘‘of an 

12 appeal’’. 

13 SEC. 5. PERMANENT REMOVAL FROM FLOOD INSURANCE 

14 RATE MAP UNDER CERTAIN CIR15 CUMSTANCES. 

16 Section 1363 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 

17 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104), as amended by the preceding sec18 tions, is further amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing new subsection: 

20 ‘‘(h) The Administrator shall annually revise each 

21 flood insurance rate map to permanently remove from 

22 each such map any property for which an owner or lessee 

23 of such property or a community is successful in a petition 

24 to remove the designation of such property as being lo25 cated in an area with a special flood hazard and shall enVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:05 Jun 06, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2078.IH H2078

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1 sure that each such map indicates no history of such prop2 erty being designated as located in an area with a special 

3 flood hazard.’’. 

4 SEC. 6. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

5 The heading of section 1363 of the National Flood 

6 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104) is amended by 

7 striking ‘‘APPEALS’’ and inserting ‘‘APPEALS AND OTHER

8 OWNER INITIATED MAP CHANGES’’. 

Æ 


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