I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3218 

To delay increases in flood insurance premium rates under the national 

flood insurance program until completion of the pending study regarding 

the affordability of such rates and congressional consideration of reforms 

to make such rates affordable, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013 

Mr. NUGENT (for himself, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. ROONEY, Ms. ROSLEHTINEN, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. GARCIA, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, Mr. 

MILLER of Florida, Mr. POSEY, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. ROSS, and 

Mr. YOHO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, 

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 delay increases in flood insurance premium rates under 

the national flood insurance program until completion 

of the pending study regarding the affordability of such 

rates and congressional consideration of reforms to make 

such rates affordable, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Flood Insurance Fair3 ness Act of 2013’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DELAY IN FLOOD INSURANCE PREMIUM CHANGES 

5 UNTIL COMPLETION OF AFFORDABILITY 

6 STUDY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi8 sion of law, the amendments made by sections 100205 and 

9 100207 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform 

10 Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–141; 126 Stat. 917) to sec11 tions 1307 and 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act 

12 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4014 and 4015) shall not take effect 

13 until the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on 

14 the date that the House of Representatives and the Senate 

15 have both completed consideration of a qualified joint res16 olution pursuant to section 4. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef18 fect as if enacted as part of the Biggert-Waters Flood In19 surance Reform Act of 2012. 

20 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF AFFORDABILITY; SUBMISSION 

21 OF PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE CHANGES. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 

23 Emergency Management Agency shall submit to the Con24 gress, and to the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate 

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1 resentatives if the House is not in session, together with 

2 the report referred to in section 2(a) of this Act— 

3 (1) a determination of whether risk premium 

4 rates for flood insurance coverage under the national 

5 flood insurance program resulting from the amend6 ments referred to in section 2(a) of this Act are sub7 stantially affordable for all homeowners; and 

8 (2) if the determination under paragraph (1) of 

9 this subsection is that such premium rates are not 

10 substantially affordable for all homeowners— 

11 (A) recommendations for legislative modi12 fications, including any modifications necessary 

13 to the amendments referred to in section 2(a), 

14 sufficient to ensure that risk premium rates for 

15 flood insurance coverage under the national 

16 flood insurance program resulting from the 

17 amendments referred to in section 2(a) of this 

18 Act are substantially affordable for all home19 owners; and 

20 (B) a proposed joint resolution that pro21 vides for the legislative modifications under 

22 subparagraph (A). 

23 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Administrator shall 

24 make the matter submitted to the Congress pursuant to 

25 subsection (a), including the proposed joint resolution, 


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1 publicly available, and shall publish in the Federal Reg2 ister a notice of the matter and information on how it can 

3 be obtained. 

4 SEC. 4. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDA5 TIONS FOR REFORMS. 

6 (a) QUALIFIED JOINT RESOLUTION.—For purposes 

7 of this section, the term ‘‘qualified joint resolution’’ means 

8 only a joint resolution described in section 3(2)(B) of this 

9 Act. 

10 (b) INTRODUCTION.—A proposed qualified joint reso11 lution transmitted by the Administrator of the Federal 

12 Emergency Management Agency under section 3(a) shall 

13 be introduced in the Senate (by request) on the next day 

14 on which the Senate is in session by the majority leader 

15 of the Senate or by a Member of the Senate designated 

16 by the majority leader of the Senate and shall be intro17 duced in the House of Representatives (by request) on the 

18 next legislative day by the majority leader of the House 

19 or by a Member of the House designated by the majority 

20 leader of the House. 

21 (c) NO REFERRAL.—A qualified joint resolution shall 

22 not be referred to a committee in either House of Congress 

23 and shall immediately be placed on the calendar. 

24 (d) MOTION TO PROCEED.—A motion to proceed to 

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1 resentatives and is privileged in the Senate and is not de2 batable. The motion is not subject to a motion to postpone, 

3 and all points of order against the motion are waived. A 

4 motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion is 

5 agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in order. If a motion 

6 to proceed to the consideration of a qualified joint resolu7 tion is agreed to, the qualified joint resolution shall remain 

8 the unfinished business of the respective House until dis9 posed of. 

10 (e) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF

11 REPRESENTATIVES.—In the House of Representatives, a 

12 qualified joint resolution shall be considered as read. All 

13 points of order against the qualified joint resolution and 

14 against its consideration are waived. The previous ques15 tion shall be considered as ordered on the qualified joint 

16 resolution to its passage without intervening motion except 

17 2 hours of debate shall be divided equally between the ma18 jority and minority leaders or their designees. A motion 

19 to reconsider the vote on passage of the qualified joint res20 olution shall not be in order. A vote on final passage of 

21 the qualified joint resolution shall be taken in the House 

22 of Representatives on or before the close of the 10th legis23 lative day after the date of the introduction of the quali24 fied joint resolution in the House of Representatives. 

25 (f) EXPEDITED PROCEDURE IN THE SENATE.— 


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1 (1) CONSIDERATION.—In the Senate, consider2 ation of a qualified joint resolution, and on all de3 batable motions and appeals in connection therewith, 

4 shall be limited to not more than 10 hours, which 

5 shall be divided equally between the majority and 

6 minority leaders or their designees. A motion to fur7 ther limit debate is in order and not debatable. An 

8 amendment to, a motion to postpone, a motion to 

9 proceed to the consideration of other business, or a 

10 motion to commit the qualified joint resolution is not 

11 in order. 

12 (2) PASSAGE.—If the Senate has proceeded to 

13 a qualified joint resolution, the vote on passage of 

14 the qualified joint resolution shall occur immediately 

15 following the conclusion of consideration of the 

16 qualified joint resolution, and a single quorum call 

17 at the conclusion of the debate if requested in ac18 cordance with the rules of the Senate. A vote on the 

19 final passage of the qualified joint resolution shall be 

20 taken in the Senate on or before the close of the 

21 10th legislative day after the date of the introduc22 tion of the qualified joint resolution in the Senate. 

23 (3) RULINGS OF THE CHAIR ON PROCEDURE.— 

24 Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating to 

25 the application of the rules of the Senate, as the 


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1 case may be, to the procedure relating to a qualified 

2 joint resolution shall be decided without debate. 

3 (g) POINTS OF ORDER.—In the Senate or the House 

4 of Representatives, a Member of the Senate or House of 

5 Representatives, respectively, may raise a point of order 

6 that a qualified joint resolution does not meet the defini7 tion of a qualified joint resolution under subsection (a). 

8 (h) AMENDMENT.—A qualified joint resolution shall 

9 not be subject to amendment in either the House of Rep10 resentatives or the Senate. 

11 (i) IN GENERAL.—If, before passing a qualified joint 

12 resolution, one House receives from the other a qualified 

13 joint resolution— 

14 (1) the qualified joint resolution from the other 

15 House shall not be referred to a committee; and 

16 (2) with respect to a qualified joint resolution 

17 of the House receiving the qualified joint resolu18 tion— 

19 (A) the procedure in that House shall be 

20 the same as if no qualified joint resolution had 

21 been received from the other House until the 

22 vote on passage; but 

23 (B) the vote on final passage shall be on 

24 the qualified joint resolution of the other 

25 House. 


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1 (j) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—This sec2 tion is enacted by the Congress— 

3 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power in 

4 the Senate and House of Representatives, respec5 tively, and as such it is deemed a part of the rules 

6 of each House, respectively, but applicable only with 

7 respect to the procedure to be followed in that 

8 House in the case of a qualified joint resolution, and 

9 it supersedes other rules only to the extent that it 

10 is inconsistent with such rules; and 

11 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

12 right of either House to change the rules (so far as 

13 relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 

14 in the same manner and to the same extent as in 

15 the case of any other rule of that House. 

Æ 


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