I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1422 

To amend the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to require that certain 

buildings and personal property be covered by flood insurance, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2017 

Mr. ROSS (for himself and Ms. CASTOR of Florida) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to 

require that certain buildings and personal property be 

covered by flood insurance, 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 ‘‘Flood Insurance Mar5 ket Parity and Modernization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRIVATE FLOOD INSURANCE. 

7 (a) MANDATORY PURCHASE REQUIREMENT.— 

8 (1) AMOUNT AND TERM OF COVERAGE.—Sec9 tion 102 of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 


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1 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a) is amended by striking 

2 ‘‘Sec. 102. (a)’’ and all that follows through the end 

3 of subsection (a) and inserting the following: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 102. (a) AMOUNT AND TERM OF COVERAGE.— 

5 After the expiration of sixty days following the date of en6 actment of this Act, no Federal officer or agency shall ap7 prove any financial assistance for acquisition or construc8 tion purposes for use in any area that has been identified 

9 by the Administrator as an area having special flood haz10 ards and in which the sale of flood insurance has been 

11 made available under the National Flood Insurance Act 

12 of 1968, unless the building or mobile home and any per13 sonal property to which such financial assistance relates 

14 is covered by flood insurance: Provided, That the amount 

15 of flood insurance (1) in the case of Federal flood insur16 ance, is at least equal to the development or project cost 

17 of the building, mobile home, or personal property (less 

18 estimated land cost), the outstanding principal balance of 

19 the loan, or the maximum limit of Federal flood insurance 

20 coverage made available with respect to the particular type 

21 of property, whichever is less; or (2) in the case of private 

22 flood insurance, is at least equal to the development or 

23 project cost of the building, mobile home, or personal 

24 property (less estimated land cost), the outstanding prin25 cipal balance of the loan, or the maximum limit of Federal 


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1 flood insurance coverage made available with respect to 

2 the particular type of property, whichever is less: Provided 

3 further, That if the financial assistance provided is in the 

4 form of a loan or an insurance or guaranty of a loan, the 

5 amount of flood insurance required need not exceed the 

6 outstanding principal balance of the loan and need not be 

7 required beyond the term of the loan. The requirement 

8 of maintaining flood insurance shall apply during the life 

9 of the property, regardless of transfer of ownership of such 

10 property.’’. 

11 (2) REQUIREMENT FOR MORTGAGE LOANS.— 

12 Subsection (b) of section 102 of the Flood Disaster 

13 Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)) is 

14 amended— 

15 (A) by striking the subsection designation 

16 and all that follows through the end of para17 graph (5) and inserting the following: 

18 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT FOR MORTGAGE LOANS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) REGULATED LENDING INSTITUTIONS.— 

20 Each Federal entity for lending regulation (after 

21 consultation and coordination with the Financial In22 stitutions Examination Council established under the 

23 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council 

24 Act of 1974) shall by regulation direct regulated 

25 lending institutions not to make, increase, extend, or 


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1 renew any loan secured by improved real estate or 

2 a mobile home located or to be located in an area 

3 that has been identified by the Administrator as an 

4 area having special flood hazards and in which flood 

5 insurance has been made available under the Na6 tional Flood Insurance Act of 1968, unless the 

7 building or mobile home and any personal property 

8 securing such loan is covered for the term of the 

9 loan by flood insurance: Provided, That the amount 

10 of flood insurance (A) in the case of Federal flood 

11 insurance, is at least equal to the outstanding prin12 cipal balance of the loan or the maximum limit of 

13 Federal flood insurance coverage made available 

14 with respect to the particular type of property, 

15 whichever is less; or (B) in the case of private flood 

16 insurance, is at least equal to the outstanding prin17 cipal balance of the loan or the maximum limit of 

18 Federal flood insurance coverage made available 

19 with respect to the particular type of property, 

20 whichever is less. 

21 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL AGENCY LENDERS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A Federal agency 

23 lender may not make, increase, extend, or 

24 renew any loan secured by improved real estate 

25 or a mobile home located or to be located in an 


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1 area that has been identified by the Adminis2 trator as an area having special flood hazards 

3 and in which flood insurance has been made 

4 available under the National Flood Insurance 

5 Act of 1968, unless the building or mobile home 

6 and any personal property securing such loan is 

7 covered for the term of the loan by flood insur8 ance in accordance with paragraph (1). Each 

9 Federal agency lender may issue any regula10 tions necessary to carry out this paragraph. 

11 Such regulations shall be consistent with and 

12 substantially identical to the regulations issued 

13 under paragraph (1). 

14 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT TO ACCEPT FLOOD IN15 SURANCE.—Each Federal agency lender shall 

16 accept flood insurance as satisfaction of the 

17 flood insurance coverage requirement under 

18 subparagraph (A) if the flood insurance cov19 erage meets the requirements for coverage 

20 under that subparagraph. 

21 ‘‘(3) GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ENTERPRISES

22 FOR HOUSING.—The Federal National Mortgage As23 sociation and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 

24 Corporation shall implement procedures reasonably 

25 designed to ensure that, for any loan that is— 


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1 ‘‘(A) secured by improved real estate or a 

2 mobile home located in an area that has been 

3 identified, at the time of the origination of the 

4 loan or at any time during the term of the loan, 

5 by the Administrator as an area having special 

6 flood hazards and in which flood insurance is 

7 available under the National Flood Insurance 

8 Act of 1968, and 

9 ‘‘(B) purchased or guaranteed by such en10 tity, 

11 the building or mobile home and any personal prop12 erty securing the loan is covered for the term of the 

13 loan by flood insurance in the amount provided in 

14 paragraph (1). The Federal National Mortgage As15 sociation and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 

16 Corporation shall accept flood insurance as satisfac17 tion of the flood insurance coverage requirement 

18 under paragraph (1) if the flood insurance coverage 

19 provided meets the requirements for coverage under 

20 that paragraph and any requirements established by 

21 the Federal National Mortgage Association or the 

22 Federal Home Loan Corporation, respectively, relat23 ing to the financial strength of private insurance 

24 companies from which the Federal National Mort25 gage Association or the Federal Home Loan MortVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 Mar 15, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1422.IH H1422

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1 gage Corporation will accept private flood insurance, 

2 provided that such requirements shall not affect or 

3 conflict with any State law, regulation, or procedure 

4 concerning the regulation of the business of insur5 ance. 

6 ‘‘(4) APPLICABILITY.— 

7 ‘‘(A) EXISTING COVERAGE.—Except as 

8 provided in subparagraph (B), paragraph (1) 

9 shall apply on the date of enactment of the Rie10 gle Community Development and Regulatory 

11 Improvement Act of 1994. 

12 ‘‘(B) NEW COVERAGE.—Paragraphs (2) 

13 and (3) shall apply only with respect to any 

14 loan made, increased, extended, or renewed 

15 after the expiration of the 1-year period begin16 ning on the date of enactment of the Riegle 

17 Community Development and Regulatory Im18 provement Act of 1994. Paragraph (1) shall 

19 apply with respect to any loan made, increased, 

20 extended, or renewed by any lender supervised 

21 by the Farm Credit Administration only after 

22 the expiration of the period under this subpara23 graph. 

24 ‘‘(C) CONTINUED EFFECT OF REGULA25 TIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 


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1 this subsection, the regulations to carry out 

2 paragraph (1), as in effect immediately before 

3 the date of enactment of the Riegle Community 

4 Development and Regulatory Improvement Act 

5 of 1994, shall continue to apply until the regu6 lations issued to carry out paragraph (1) as 

7 amended by section 522(a) of such Act take ef8 fect. 

9 ‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Except as oth10 erwise specified, any reference to flood insurance in 

11 this section shall be considered to include Federal 

12 flood insurance and private flood insurance. Nothing 

13 in this subsection shall be construed to supersede or 

14 limit the authority of a Federal entity for lending 

15 regulation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a 

16 Federal agency lender, the Federal National Mort17 gage Association, or the Federal Home Loan Mort18 gage Corporation to establish requirements relating 

19 to the financial strength of private insurance compa20 nies from which the entity or agency will accept pri21 vate flood insurance, provided that such require22 ments shall not affect or conflict with any State law, 

23 regulation, or procedure concerning the regulation of 

24 the business of insurance.’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking paragraph (7) and insert2 ing the following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(A) FLOOD INSURANCE.—The term ‘flood 

5 insurance’ means— 

6 ‘‘(i) Federal flood insurance; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) private flood insurance. 

8 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL FLOOD INSURANCE.—the 

9 term ‘Federal flood insurance’ means an insur10 ance policy made available under the National 

11 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 

12 et seq.). 

13 ‘‘(C) PRIVATE FLOOD INSURANCE.—The 

14 term ‘private flood insurance’ means an insur15 ance policy that— 

16 ‘‘(i) is issued by an insurance com17 pany that is— 

18 ‘‘(I) licensed, admitted, or other19 wise approved to engage in the busi20 ness of insurance in the State in 

21 which the insured building is located, 

22 by the insurance regulator of that 

23 State; or 

24 ‘‘(II) eligible as a nonadmitted 

25 insurer to provide insurance in the 


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1 home State of the insured, in accord2 ance with sections 521 through 527 of 

3 the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 

4 and Consumer Protection Act (15 

5 U.S.C. 8201 through 8206); 

6 ‘‘(ii) is issued by an insurance com7 pany that is not otherwise disapproved as 

8 a surplus lines insurer by the insurance 

9 regulator of the State in which the prop10 erty to be insured is located; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) provides flood insurance cov12 erage that complies with the laws and reg13 ulations of that State. 

14 ‘‘(D) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means any 

15 State of the United States, the District of Co16 lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

17 Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Vir18 gin Islands, and American Samoa.’’. 

19 (b) EFFECT OF PRIVATE FLOOD INSURANCE COV20 ERAGE ON CONTINUOUS COVERAGE REQUIREMENTS.— 

21 Section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 

22 (42 U.S.C. 4015) is amended by adding at the end the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(n) EFFECT OF PRIVATE FLOOD INSURANCE COV25 ERAGE ON CONTINUOUS COVERAGE REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 For purposes of applying any statutory, regulatory, or ad2 ministrative continuous coverage requirement, including 

3 under section 1307(g)(1), the Administrator shall consider 

4 any period during which a property was continuously cov5 ered by private flood insurance (as defined in section 

6 102(b)(7) of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 

7 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(7))) to be a period of continuous cov8 erage.’’. 

Æ 


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