II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1679 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2015 

Mr. HELLER (for himself and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

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) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Flood 

9 Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a) 


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1 is amended by striking ‘‘Sec. 102. (a)’’ and all that 

2 follows through subsection (b) and inserting the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 102. (a) After the expiration of sixty days fol5 lowing the date of enactment of this Act, no Federal offi6 cer or agency shall approve any financial assistance for 

7 acquisition or construction purposes for use in any area 

8 that has been identified by the Administrator as an area 

9 having special flood hazards and in which the sale of flood 

10 insurance has been made available under the National 

11 Flood Insurance Act of 1968, unless the building or mo12 bile home and any personal property to which such finan13 cial assistance relates is covered by flood insurance: Pro14 vided, That the amount of flood insurance (1) in the case 

15 of Federal flood insurance, is at least equal to the develop16 ment or project cost of the building, mobile home, or per17 sonal property (less estimated land cost), the outstanding 

18 principal balance of the loan, or the maximum limit of 

19 Federal flood insurance coverage made available with re20 spect to the particular type of property, whichever is less; 

21 or (2) in the case of private flood insurance, is at least 

22 equal to the development or project cost of the building, 

23 mobile home, or personal property (less estimated land 

24 cost), the outstanding principal balance of the loan, or the 

25 maximum limit of Federal flood insurance coverage made 


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1 available with respect to the particular property, whichever 

2 is less: Provided further, That if the financial assistance 

3 provided is in the form of a loan or an insurance or guar4 anty of a loan, the amount of flood insurance required 

5 need not exceed the outstanding principal balance of the 

6 loan and need not be required beyond the term of the loan. 

7 The requirement of maintaining flood insurance shall 

8 apply during the life of the property, regardless of transfer 

9 of ownership of such property. 

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

11 ‘‘(1) REGULATED LENDING INSTITUTIONS.— 

12 Each Federal entity for lending regulation (after 

13 consultation and coordination with the Financial In14 stitutions Examination Council established under the 

15 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council 

16 Act of 1974) shall by regulation direct regulated 

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

18 renew any loan secured by improved real estate or 

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

20 that has been identified by the Administrator as an 

21 area having special flood hazards and in which flood 

22 insurance has been made available under the Na23 tional Flood Insurance Act of 1968, unless the 

24 building or mobile home and any personal property 

25 securing such loan is covered for the term of the 


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1 loan by flood insurance: Provided, That the amount 

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

3 insurance, is at least equal to the outstanding prin4 cipal balance of the loan or the maximum limit of 

5 Federal flood insurance coverage made available 

6 with respect to the particular type of property, 

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

8 insurance, is at least equal to the outstanding prin9 cipal balance of the loan or the maximum limit of 

10 Federal flood insurance coverage made available 

11 with respect to the particular type of property, 

12 whichever is less. 

13 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL AGENCY LENDERS.— 

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

15 lender may not make, increase, extend, or 

16 renew any loan secured by improved real estate 

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

18 area that has been identified by the Adminis19 trator as an area having special flood hazards 

20 and in which flood insurance has been made 

21 available under the National Flood Insurance 

22 Act of 1968, unless the building or mobile home 

23 and any personal property securing such loan is 

24 covered for the term of the loan by flood insur25 ance in accordance with paragraph (1). Each 


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1 Federal agency lender may issue any regula2 tions necessary to carry out this paragraph. 

3 Such regulations shall be consistent with and 

4 substantially identical to the regulations issued 

5 under paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT TO ACCEPT FLOOD IN7 SURANCE.—Each Federal agency lender shall 

8 accept flood insurance as satisfaction of the 

9 flood insurance coverage requirement under 

10 subparagraph (A) if the flood insurance cov11 erage meets the requirements for coverage 

12 under that subparagraph. 

13 ‘‘(3) GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ENTERPRISES

14 FOR HOUSING.—The Federal National Mortgage As15 sociation and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 

16 Corporation shall implement procedures reasonably 

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

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

19 mobile home located in an area that has been 

20 identified, at the time of the origination of the 

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

22 by the Administrator as an area having special 

23 flood hazards and in which flood insurance is 

24 available under the National Flood Insurance 

25 Act of 1968, and 


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1 ‘‘(B) purchased by such entity, 

2 the building or mobile home and any personal prop3 erty securing the loan is covered for the term of the 

4 loan by flood insurance in the amount provided in 

5 paragraph (1). The Federal National Mortgage As6 sociation and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 

7 Corporation shall accept flood insurance as satisfac8 tion of the flood insurance coverage requirement 

9 under paragraph (1) if the flood insurance coverage 

10 provided meets the requirements for coverage under 

11 that paragraph. 

12 ‘‘(4) APPLICABILITY.— 

13 ‘‘(A) EXISTING COVERAGE.—Except as 

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

15 shall apply on the date of enactment of the Rie16 gle Community Development and Regulatory 

17 Improvement Act of 1994. 

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

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

20 loan made, increased, extended, or renewed 

21 after the expiration of the 1-year period begin22 ning on the date of enactment of the Riegle 

23 Community Development and Regulatory Im24 provement Act of 1994. Paragraph (1) shall 

25 apply with respect to any loan made, increased, 


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1 extended, or renewed by any lender supervised 

2 by the Farm Credit Administration only after 

3 the expiration of the period under this subpara4 graph. 

5 ‘‘(C) CONTINUED EFFECT OF REGULA6 TIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 

7 this subsection, the regulations to carry out 

8 paragraph (1), as in effect immediately before 

9 the date of enactment of the Riegle Community 

10 Development and Regulatory Improvement Act 

11 of 1994, shall continue to apply until the regu12 lations issued to carry out paragraph (1) as 

13 amended by section 522(a) of such Act take ef14 fect. 

15 ‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Except as oth16 erwise specified, any reference to flood insurance in 

17 this section shall be considered to include Federal 

18 flood insurance and private flood insurance. 

19 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) FLOOD INSURANCE.—In this section, 

21 the term ‘flood insurance’ means— 

22 ‘‘(i) Federal flood insurance; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) private flood insurance. 

24 ‘‘(B) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—In this sec25 tion— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the term ‘Federal flood insurance’ 

2 means an insurance policy made available 

3 under the National Flood Insurance Act of 

4 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.); 

5 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘private flood insurance’ 

6 means an insurance policy that— 

7 ‘‘(I) is issued by an insurance 

8 company that is— 

9 ‘‘(aa) licensed, admitted, or 

10 otherwise approved to engage in 

11 the business of insurance in the 

12 State in which the insured build13 ing is located, by the insurance 

14 regulator of that State; or 

15 ‘‘(bb) eligible as a non16 admitted insurer to provide in17 surance in the home State of the 

18 insured, in accordance with sec19 tions 521 through 527 of the 

20 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 

21 and Consumer Protection Act 

22 (15 U.S.C. 8201 through 8206); 

23 ‘‘(II) is issued by an insurance 

24 company that is not otherwise dis25 approved as a surplus lines insurer by 


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1 the insurance regulator of the State in 

2 which the property to be insured is lo3 cated; and 

4 ‘‘(III) provides flood insurance 

5 coverage that complies with the laws 

6 and regulations of that State; and 

7 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘State’ means any 

8 State of the United States, the District of 

9 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

10 Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Is11 lands, the Virgin Islands, and American 

12 Samoa.’’. 

13 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND14 MENT.—Section 1364(a)(3)(C) of the National 

15 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

16 4104a(a)(3)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘, as re17 quired under section 102(b)(6) of the Flood Disaster 

18 Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(6))’’. 

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)(6) of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 

7 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(6))) to be a period of continuous cov8 erage.’’. 

Æ 


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