I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3315 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to allow the repair, 

expansion, and construction, without elevation, of agricultural structures 

located in special flood hazard zones, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 23, 2013 

Mr. LAMALFA (for himself, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MCNERNEY, 

and Mr. DENHAM) 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 

allow the repair, expansion, and construction, without 

elevation, of agricultural structures located in special 

flood hazard zones, 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 ‘‘Agricultural Structures 

5 Building Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE AND LOCAL LAND USE 

2 CONTROLS. 

3 Subsection (a) of section 1315 of the National Flood 

4 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4022(a)) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(3) ALLOWABLE LOCAL VARIANCES FOR CER7 TAIN AGRICULTURAL STRUCTURES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—Notwithstanding 

9 any other provision of this Act, the land use 

10 and control measures adopted pursuant to 

11 paragraph (1) may not, for purposes of such 

12 paragraph, be considered to be inadequate or 

13 inconsistent with the comprehensive criteria for 

14 land management and use under section 1361 

15 because such measures provide that, in the case 

16 of any agricultural structure that is located in 

17 an area having special flood hazards, a variance 

18 in accordance with subparagraph (B) may be 

19 granted, and the Administrator may not sus20 pend a community from participation in the na21 tional flood insurance program, or place such a 

22 community on probation under such program, 

23 because such land use and control measures 

24 provide for such a variance. 

25 ‘‘(B) VARIANCE; CONSIDERATIONS.—A 

26 variance in accordance with this subparagraph 


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1 is a variance, granted by an appropriate official 

2 of the community, from compliance with such 

3 land use and control measures that allows for 

4 the repair, expansion, or construction of such 

5 agricultural structure without elevation of the 

6 structure, but only after a determination by 

7 such appropriate official that— 

8 ‘‘(i) in the case of new construction, 

9 the agricultural structure is subject to base 

10 flood elevations of at least three feet; 

11 ‘‘(ii) in the case of existing structures, 

12 it is not practicable to elevate the repaired 

13 or expanded structure to the base flood ele14 vation; 

15 ‘‘(iii) the structure is located within 5 

16 miles of active agricultural operations; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) not more than one claim pay18 ment exceeding $1,000 has been made for 

19 the structure under flood insurance cov20 erage under this title within any period of 

21 10 consecutive years. 

22 ‘‘(C) DEFINITION OF AGRICULTURAL

23 STRUCTURE.—For purposes of this paragraph, 

24 the term ‘agricultural structure’ means any ag25 ricultural product processing facility, agriculVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:16 Oct 24, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3315.IH H3315

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1 tural product storage facility, shed, farmhouse, 

2 barn, or other structure which has as its pri3 mary purpose supporting the agricultural indus4 try.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. PREMIUM RATES. 

6 Section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 

7 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following new subsection: 

9 ‘‘(j) PREMIUM RATES FOR CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL

10 STRUCTURES WITH VARIANCES.—Notwithstanding any 

11 other provision of this Act, the chargeable premium rate 

12 for coverage under this title for any structure provided a 

13 variance pursuant to section 1315(a)(3) shall be the rate 

14 that otherwise would apply to such structure if the struc15 ture had been repaired, expanded, or constructed before 

16 the establishment of the special flood hazard area.’’. 

Æ 


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