IB 

Union Calendar No. 196 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1558 

[Report No. 115–276] 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure community 

accountability for areas repetitively damaged by floods, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2017 

Mr. ROYCE of California (for himself and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the 

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

AUGUST 15, 2017 

Additional sponsors: Mr. ISSA, Mrs. MIMI WALTERS of California, Mr. 

ROHRABACHER, and Mr. MESSER

AUGUST 15, 2017 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 16, 2017] 


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A BILL 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to 

ensure community accountability for areas repetitively 

damaged by floods, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Repeatedly Flooded 

5 Communities Preparation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPETITIVELY 

7 FLOODED AREAS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1361 of the National Flood 

9 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4102) is amended by add10 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

11 ‘‘(e) COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPETITIVELY

12 DAMAGED AREAS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall, by 

14 regulation, require any covered community (as such 

15 term is defined in paragraph (5))— 

16 ‘‘(A) to identify the areas within the com17 munity where properties described in paragraph 

18 (5)(B) or flood-damaged facilities are located to 

19 determine areas repeatedly damaged by floods 

20 and to assess, with assistance from the Adminis21 trator, the continuing risks to such areas; 

22 ‘‘(B) to develop a community-specific plan 

23 for mitigating continuing flood risks to such re24 petitively flooded areas and to submit such plan 


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1 and plan updates to the Administrator at appro2 priate intervals; 

3 ‘‘(C) to implement such plans; 

4 ‘‘(D) to make such plan, plan updates, and 

5 reports on progress in reducing flood risk avail6 able to the public, subject to section 552a of title 

7 5, United States Code. 

8 ‘‘(2) INCORPORATION INTO EXISTING PLANS.— 

9 Plans developed pursuant to paragraph (1) may be 

10 incorporated into mitigation plans developed under 

11 section 1366 of this Act (42 U.S.C. 4104c) and hazard 

12 mitigation plans developed under section 322 of the 

13 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As14 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165). 

15 ‘‘(3) ASSISTANCE TO COMMUNITIES.— 

16 ‘‘(A) DATA.—To assist communities in 

17 preparation of plans required under paragraph 

18 (1), the Administrator shall, upon request, pro19 vide covered communities with appropriate data 

20 regarding the property addresses and dates of 

21 claims associated with insured properties within 

22 the community. 

23 ‘‘(B) MITIGATION GRANTS.—In making de24 terminations regarding financial assistance 

25 under the authorities of this Act, the AdminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:47 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1558.RH H1558

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1 trator may consider the extent to which a com2 munity has complied with this subsection and is 

3 working to remedy problems with addressing re4 peatedly flooded areas. 

5 ‘‘(4) SANCTIONS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

7 shall, by regulations issued in accordance with 

8 the procedures established under section 553 of 

9 title 5, United States Code, regarding sub10 stantive rules, provide appropriate sanctions for 

11 covered communities that fail to comply with the 

12 requirements under this subsection or to make 

13 sufficient progress in reducing the flood risks to 

14 areas in the community that are repeatedly 

15 damaged by floods. 

16 ‘‘(B) NOTICE.—Before imposing any sanc17 tion pursuant to this paragraph, the Adminis18 trator shall provide the covered community in19 volved with notice of the non-compliance that 

20 could result in the imposition of sanctions, which 

21 shall include recommendations for actions to 

22 bring the covered community into compliance. 

23 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 

24 appropriate sanctions to impose under this 

25 paragraph, the Administrator shall consider the 


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1 resources available to the covered community in2 volved, including Federal funding, the portion of 

3 the covered community that lies within an area 

4 having special flood hazards, and other factors 

5 that make it difficult for the covered community 

6 to conduct mitigation activities for existing 

7 flood-prone structures. 

8 ‘‘(5) COVERED COMMUNITY.—For purposes of 

9 this subsection, the term ‘covered community’ means 

10 a community— 

11 ‘‘(A) that is participating, pursuant to sec12 tion 1315, in the national flood insurance pro13 gram; and 

14 ‘‘(B) within which are located— 

15 ‘‘(i) 50 or more repetitive loss struc16 tures for each of which, during any 10-year 

17 period, two or more claims for payments 

18 under flood insurance coverage have been 

19 made with a cumulative amount exceeding 

20 $1,000; 

21 ‘‘(ii) 5 or more severe repetitive loss 

22 structures (as such term is defined in sec23 tion 1366(h)) for which mitigation activi24 ties meeting the standards for approval 


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1 under section 1366(c)(2)(A) have not been 

2 conducted; or 

3 ‘‘(iii) a public facility or a private 

4 nonprofit facility (as such terms are as de5 fined in section 102 of the Robert T. Staf6 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist7 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)), that has re8 ceived assistance for repair, restoration, re9 construction, or replacement under section 

10 406 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

11 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

12 5172) in connection with more than one 

13 flooding event in the most recent 10-year 

14 period. 

15 ‘‘(6) REPETITIVE-LOSS STRUCTURE.—For pur16 poses of this subsection, the term ‘repetitive loss struc17 ture’ has the meaning given such term in section 1370 

18 (42 U.S.C. 4121). 

19 ‘‘(7) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

20 the expiration of the 6-year period beginning upon 

21 the date of the enactment of this subsection, and not 

22 less than every 2 years thereafter, the Administrator 

23 shall submit a report to the Congress regarding the 

24 progress in implementing plans developed pursuant to 

25 paragraph (1)(B).’’. 


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1 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator of the Federal 

2 Emergency Management Agency shall issue regulations nec3 essary to carry out subsection (e) of section 1361 of the Na4 tional Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as added by the amend5 ment made by subsection (a) of this section, not later than 

6 the expiration of the 12-month period that begins on the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act. 

8 SEC. 3. MONTHLY INSTALLMENT PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS. 

9 (a) AUTHORITY.—Subsection (g) of section 1308 of the 

10 National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015(g)) 

11 is amended— 

12 (1) by striking the subsection designation and all 

13 that follows through ‘‘With respect’’ and inserting the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(g) FREQUENCY OF PREMIUM COLLECTION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) OPTIONS.—With respect’’; and 

17 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(2) MONTHLY INSTALLMENT PAYMENT OF PRE19 MIUMS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) EXEMPTION FROM RULEMAKING.— 

21 Until such time as the Administrator promul22 gates regulations implementing paragraph (1) of 

23 this subsection, the Administrator may adopt 

24 policies and procedures, notwithstanding any 

25 other provisions of law and in alignment and 


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1 consistent with existing industry escrow and 

2 servicing standards, necessary to implement such 

3 paragraph without undergoing notice and com4 ment rulemaking and without conducting regu5 latory analyses otherwise required by statute, 

6 regulation, or Executive order. 

7 ‘‘(B) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Administrator 

8 may initially implement paragraph (1) of this 

9 subsection as a pilot program that provides for 

10 a gradual phase-in of implementation. 

11 ‘‘(C) POLICYHOLDER PROTECTION.—The 

12 Administrator may— 

13 ‘‘(i) during the 12-month period begin14 ning on the date of the enactment of this 

15 subparagraph, charge policyholders choosing 

16 to pay premiums in monthly installments a 

17 fee for the total cost of the monthly collec18 tion of premiums not to exceed $25 annu19 ally; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) after the expiration of the 12- 

21 month period referred to in clause (i), ad22 just the fee charged annually to cover the 

23 total cost of the monthly collection of pre24 miums as determined by the report sub25 mitted pursuant to subparagraph (D). 


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1 ‘‘(D) REPORT.—Not later than six months 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

3 Comptroller General shall submit a report to the 

4 Committee on Financial Services of the House of 

5 Representatives and the Committee on Banking, 

6 Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, that 

7 sets forth all of the costs associated with the 

8 monthly payment of premiums, including any 

9 up-front costs associated with infrastructure de10 velopment, the impact on all policyholders in11 cluding those that exercise the option to pay 

12 monthly and those that do not, options for mini13 mizing the costs, particularly the costs to policy14 holders, and the feasibility of adopting practices 

15 that serve to minimize costs to policyholders such 

16 as automatic payments and electronic payments. 

17 ‘‘(E) ANNUAL REPORTS.—On an annual 

18 basis, the Administrator shall report to the Com19 mittee on Financial Services of the House of 

20 Representatives and the Committee on Banking, 

21 Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate the 

22 ongoing costs associated with the monthly pay23 ment of premiums.’’. 

24 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—Clause (ii) of section 

25 1307(a)(1)(B) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 


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1 (42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(1)(B)(ii)) is amended by inserting be2 fore ‘‘any administrative expenses’’ the following: ‘‘the costs 

3 associated with the monthly collection of premiums pro4 vided for in section 1308(g) (42 U.S.C. 4015(g)), but only 

5 if such costs exceed the operating costs and allowances set 

6 forth in clause (i) of this subparagraph, and’’. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 196 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1558 

[Report No. 115–276] 

A BILL 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 

other purposes. areas repetitively damaged by floods, and for 1968 to ensure community accountability for 

AUGUST 15, 2017 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS