II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2153 

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

accountability for areas repeatedly damaged by floods, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 21, 2021 

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was read 

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

A BILL 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to 

ensure community accountability for areas repeatedly 

damaged by floods, 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 ‘‘Repeatedly Flooded 

5 Communities Preparation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEATEDLY 

7 FLOODED AREAS. 

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

9 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4102) is amended 

10 by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(e) COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEAT2 EDLY DAMAGED AREAS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

4 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered community’ means 

5 a community— 

6 ‘‘(i) that is participating in the na7 tional flood insurance program under sec8 tion 1315; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) within which are located— 

10 ‘‘(I) not fewer than 50 repetitive 

11 loss structures with respect to each of 

12 which, during any 10-year period, 

13 there have been not fewer than 2 

14 claims for payments under flood in15 surance coverage for a total amount 

16 that is more than $1,000; 

17 ‘‘(II) not fewer than 5 severe re18 petitive loss structures for which miti19 gation activities meeting the stand20 ards for approval under section 

21 1366(c)(2)(A) have not been con22 ducted; or 

23 ‘‘(III) a public facility or a pri24 vate nonprofit facility that has re25 ceived assistance for repair, restoraVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153

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1 tion, reconstruction, or replacement 

2 under section 406 of the Robert T. 

3 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer4 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 5172) relating to more than 1 flood6 ing event during the most recent 10- 

7 year period; 

8 ‘‘(B) the terms ‘private nonprofit facility’ 

9 and ‘public facility’ have the meanings given 

10 those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. 

11 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist12 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122); and 

13 ‘‘(C) the term ‘severe repetitive loss struc14 ture’ has the meaning given the term in section 

15 1366(h). 

16 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERED COMMU17 NITIES.—The Administrator shall, by regulation, re18 quire a covered community to— 

19 ‘‘(A) determine the areas within the cov20 ered community in which properties described 

21 in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) or flood-damaged facili22 ties are located in order to identify areas that 

23 are repeatedly damaged by floods; 

24 ‘‘(B) assess, with assistance from the Ad25 ministrator, the continuing risks to the repeatVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153

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1 edly damaged areas identified under subpara2 graph (A); 

3 ‘‘(C) develop a community-specific plan for 

4 mitigating continuing flood risks to the repeat5 edly damaged areas identified under subpara6 graph (A); 

7 ‘‘(D) submit the plan described in subpara8 graph (C) and any plan updates to the Admin9 istrator at appropriate intervals; 

10 ‘‘(E) implement the plan described in sub11 paragraph (C) and any updates to the plan; and 

12 ‘‘(F) subject to section 552a of title 5, 

13 United States Code, make the plan described in 

14 subparagraph (C), any updates to the plan, and 

15 reports on progress in reducing flood risk avail16 able to the public. 

17 ‘‘(3) INCORPORATION INTO EXISTING PLANS.— 

18 A covered community may incorporate a plan devel19 oped under paragraph (2)(C), including any updates 

20 to such a plan, into a mitigation plan developed 

21 under— 

22 ‘‘(A) section 1366; and 

23 ‘‘(B) section 322 of the Robert T. Stafford 

24 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

25 (42 U.S.C. 5165). 


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1 ‘‘(4) ASSISTANCE TO COMMUNITIES.— 

2 ‘‘(A) DATA.—To assist a covered commu3 nity in developing a plan required under para4 graph (2)(C), including any updates to such a 

5 plan, the Administrator shall, upon request, 

6 provide the covered community with appropriate 

7 data regarding the property addresses and 

8 dates of claims associated with insured prop9 erties within the covered community. 

10 ‘‘(B) MITIGATION GRANTS.—In making a 

11 determination regarding financial assistance 

12 under this Act, the Administrator may consider 

13 the extent to which a covered community— 

14 ‘‘(i) has complied with this subsection; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(ii) is working to remedy problems 

17 with respect to repeatedly flooded areas. 

18 ‘‘(5) SANCTIONS.— 

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

20 may, by regulations issued in accordance with 

21 the procedures required under section 553 of 

22 title 5, United States Code, impose appropriate 

23 sanctions on a covered community that fails 

24 to— 

25 ‘‘(i) comply with this subsection; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) make sufficient progress in re2 ducing the flood risks to areas in the cov3 ered community that are repeatedly dam4 aged by floods. 

5 ‘‘(B) SUSPENSION AND PROBATION.—The 

6 sanctions described in subparagraph (A) may 

7 include suspension from the national flood in8 surance program or probation under that pro9 gram, as provided under section 59.24 of title 

10 44, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on 

11 the date of enactment of this subsection. 

12 ‘‘(C) NOTICE.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Before imposing 

14 any sanctions under this paragraph, the 

15 Administrator shall provide the covered 

16 community that is subject to the sanctions 

17 with notice of the violation that may sub18 ject the covered community to the sanc19 tions. 

20 ‘‘(ii) CONTENTS.—The notice required 

21 under clause (i) shall include recommenda22 tions for actions that the covered commu23 nity receiving the notice may take in order 

24 to bring the covered community into com25 pliance. 


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1 ‘‘(D) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 

2 appropriate sanctions to impose under this 

3 paragraph, the Administrator shall consider the 

4 resources available to the covered community 

5 that is subject to the sanctions, including— 

6 ‘‘(i) any Federal funding received by 

7 the covered community; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the portion of the covered com9 munity that lies within an area having spe10 cial flood hazards; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) any other factor that makes it 

12 difficult for the covered community to con13 duct mitigation activities for flood-prone 

14 structures. 

15 ‘‘(6) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

16 6 years after the date of enactment of this sub17 section, and not less frequently than once every 2 

18 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to 

19 Congress a report regarding the progress made by 

20 covered communities with respect to implementing 

21 plans developed under paragraph (2)(C), including 

22 any updates to those plans.’’. 

23 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

25 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue reguVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:01 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2153.IS S2153

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1 lations necessary to carry out subsection (e) of section 

2 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 

3 U.S.C. 4102), as added by subsection (a) of this section. 

Æ 


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