I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3013 

To reform the National Flood Insurance Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 2, 2013 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BOUSTANY, 

Mr. SCALISE, Mr. NUNNELEE, Mr. JONES, and Mr. GRIMM) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To reform the National Flood Insurance Program, 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 ‘‘Home Protection Act 

5 of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MAPPING OF NON-STRUCTURAL FLOOD MITIGA7 TION FEATURES. 

8 Section 100216 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insur9 ance Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101b) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (b)(1)(A)— 


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1 (A) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

2 end; 

3 (B) by redesignating clause (v) as clause 

4 (vi); 

5 (C) by inserting after clause (iv) the fol6 lowing new clause: 

7 ‘‘(v) areas that are protected by 

8 pumping stations, decertified levees, or 

9 non-Federal or non-structural flood protec10 tion measures; and’’; and 

11 (D) in clause (vi) (as so redesignated), by 

12 striking ‘‘flood control structures’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘flood control structures, pumping stations, de14 certified levees, or non-Federal or non-struc15 tural flood mitigation measures’’; and 

16 (2) in subsection (d)(1)— 

17 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

18 through (C) as subparagraphs (B) through (D), 

19 respectively; and 

20 (B) by inserting before subparagraph (B) 

21 (as so redesignated) the following new subpara22 graph: 

23 ‘‘(A) work with States, local communities, 

24 and property owners to identify areas and 

25 measures described in subsection (b)(1)(A)(v);’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. APPLYING CIRCULAR WIND MODELS TO FLOOD IN2 SURANCE RATE MAPS. 

3 Section 100216(b)(3) of the Biggert-Waters Flood 

4 Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 4101b(b)(3)) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

7 the end; 

8 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as sub9 paragraph (F); and 

10 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the fol11 lowing new subparagraph: 

12 ‘‘(E) in consultation with the Secretary of 

13 the Army, acting through the Chief of Engi14 neers, any relevant information that leads to 

15 the appropriate use of circular wind models for 

16 the application of stillwater elevation calcula17 tions; and’’. 

18 SEC. 4. HOME IMPROVEMENT FAIRNESS. 

19 Section 1307(a)(2)(E)(ii) of the National Flood In20 surance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(2)(E)(ii)) is 

21 amended by striking ‘‘30 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘50 per22 cent’’. 

23 SEC. 5. CONSTRUCTION AND RESTORATION OF FLOOD PRO24 TECTION SYSTEMS. 

25 (a) ADEQUATE PROGRESS ON CONSTRUCTION OF

26 FLOOD PROTECTION SYSTEMS.—Section 1307(e) of the 


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

2 4014(e)) is amended— 

3 (1) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘or recon4 struction’’ after ‘‘construction’’; 

5 (2) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘con6 struction of a flood protection system as required 

7 herein has been only if’’ and inserting ‘‘construction 

8 or reconstruction of a flood protection system has 

9 been made only if, based on the present value of the 

10 completed system’’; and 

11 (3) by adding at the end the following new sen12 tence: ‘‘The Administrator shall not consider the 

13 level of Federal funding of or participation in the 

14 construction or reconstruction of a flood protection 

15 system in determining whether adequate progress on 

16 such construction has been made.’’. 

17 (b) COMMUNITIES RESTORING DISACCREDITED

18 FLOOD PROTECTION SYSTEMS.—Section 1307(f) of the 

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

20 4014(f)) is amended in the first sentence by striking ‘‘no 

21 longer does so.’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘no longer 

22 does so, and shall apply without regard to the level of Fed23 eral funding of or participation in the restoration of the 

24 flood protection system.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT FLEXIBILITY. 

2 The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 

3 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 

4 1308 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1308A. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT FLEXI6 BILITY. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall issue 

8 regulations to establish a means by which a State or local 

9 government may, on its own accord or in conjunction with 

10 other State or local governments, submit such payments 

11 to the Administrator as are necessary to cover part or all 

12 of the cost of any premium for any property within the 

13 jurisdiction of the State or local government. 

14 ‘‘(b) RISK PREMIUM RATE.—The Administrator 

15 shall, under the regulations issued under subsection (a), 

16 require that the amount of any payment from a State or 

17 local government under such regulations be consistent 

18 with sections 1307 and 1308.’’. 

19 SEC. 7. APPROPRIATE CREDIT FOR FLOOD CONTROL 

20 STRUCTURES. 

21 Section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 

22 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101) is amended by adding at the end 

23 the following: 

24 ‘‘(k) ACTUAL PROTECTION PROVIDED BY LEVEE

25 SYSTEMS.—The Administrator may not publish a flood inVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:48 Aug 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013

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1 surance rate map or an update to a flood insurance rate 

2 map for an area unless— 

3 ‘‘(1) the flood insurance rate map or update 

4 adequately reflects the level of protection provided 

5 by any flood protection system for such area, includ6 ing a pumping station, decertified levee, or non-Fed7 eral or non-structural flood mitigation measure, 

8 against the 100-year frequency flood, regardless of 

9 the accreditation status of the flood protection sys10 tem; or 

11 ‘‘(2) the community for which a flood protection 

12 system provides protection elects not to provide the 

13 data necessary for the Administrator to publish a 

14 flood insurance rate map or update that adequately 

15 reflects the protection provided by the flood protec16 tion system against the 100-year frequency flood.’’. 

17 SEC. 8. INTEGRATION OF REVISED LEVEE ANALYSIS AND 

18 MAPPING PROCEDURES. 

19 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, para20 graphs (1) and (2) of section 1307(g) of the National 

21 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4014(g)) shall 

22 have no force or effect with respect to a property until— 

23 (1) the Administrator of the Federal Emer24 gency Management Agency publishes or updates a 

25 flood insurance rate map for the area in which the 


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1 property is located that adequately reflects the pro2 tection provided by any flood protection system for 

3 such area, including a pumping station, decertified 

4 levee, or non-Federal or non-structural flood mitiga5 tion measure, against the 100-year frequency flood, 

6 without regard to the accreditation status of the 

7 flood protection system; or 

8 (2) the community in which such property is lo9 cated elects not to provide the data necessary for the 

10 Administrator to publish a flood insurance rate map 

11 or update that adequately reflects the protection 

12 provided by any flood protection system, including a 

13 pumping station, decertified levee, or non-Federal or 

14 non-structural flood mitigation measure. 

15 SEC. 9. ALTERNATIVE APPROACH FOR ASSESSING AND 

16 PRICING FLOOD RISK. 

17 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that— 

18 (1) there should be established in the House of 

19 Representatives a Bipartisan Task Force on Innova20 tion in Financing Flood Risk with the primary pur21 pose of compiling data and information on innova22 tive market-based solutions to make flood insurance 

23 more accessible and affordable for all Americans; 

24 and 

25 (2) such Task Force should— 


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1 (A) consult with flood risk management 

2 stakeholder groups, insurers, reinsurers, State 

3 regulators, and financial experts knowledgeable 

4 and interested in finding innovative new rate 

5 methodologies and approaches to financing 

6 flood risk, including insurance risk 

7 securitization; 

8 (B) compile information on existing risk 

9 assessment methodologies that— 

10 (i) identify and standardize broader 

11 types of risks, hazards, structures, and 

12 losses, at a granular level, faced by prop13 erty owners and communities, that helps 

14 investors, buyers, regulators, and policy15 makers finding a methodology to facilitate 

16 transparency and liquidity while reducing 

17 risk and increasing asset value through the 

18 clear reduction of risk uncertainty; 

19 (ii) encourage transparency in the de20 velopment of Flood Insurance Rate Maps 

21 that the Federal Emergency Management 

22 Agency uses to assign risk in flood-risk 

23 zones; 

24 (iii) introduce financial or non-finan25 cial risk determination, analysis, and valuVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:48 Aug 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013

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1 ation of individual mortgages and housing 

2 transactions in a unified approach that in3 cludes engineering structures and environ4 mental risks in the pricing by risk ele5 ments of catastrophe-linked products; 

6 (iv) integrate different approaches (fi7 nancial, actuarial, and engineering) into 

8 one pricing framework that complements 

9 modern flood risk analysis and captures 

10 potential losses as accurately as possible; 

11 (v) granulate the risks and value and 

12 offer risk-differentiated and risk-specific 

13 solutions so that any differentiated risk 

14 can be redistributed and diversified in nu15 merous ways; 

16 (vi) explore transparency indexes that 

17 link monetary value to risk disclosure; and 

18 (vii) average national catastrophic in19 sured losses and appropriately assign 

20 weights and risk values to equitably dis21 tribute catastrophic, all-peril insurance 

22 risk; 

23 (C) consider the relationship between new 

24 transparent, benchmark pricing of flood insur25 ance-linked securitization and structured catasVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:48 Aug 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013

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1 trophe derivatives that integrates engineering, 

2 financial, and actuarial parameters to reduce 

3 the cost of mitigating financial losses due to 

4 floods; 

5 (D) evaluate options for— 

6 (i) educating policyholders on methods 

7 for risk mitigation; 

8 (ii) integrating policyholder and cap9 ital market participants, including inves10 tors, in the entire risk-financing process to 

11 demonstrate or feature specific system 

12 measures that increase asset value; and 

13 (iii) expressing different ways to 

14 incentivize both the financial markets and 

15 the individual market participant to update 

16 all risk disclosures and risk-remediating 

17 actions on an individual basis; and 

18 (E) not later than 180 days after the date 

19 of the enactment of this Act, report findings, 

20 options, and recommendations to the House of 

21 Representatives with regard to the consider22 ation of future flood-risk analysis and risk inno23 vation in pricing. 

Æ 


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