I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8616 

To eliminate any subsidies for flood insurance coverage under the National 

Flood Insurance Program for new construction, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 16, 2020 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. BARR) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To eliminate any subsidies for flood insurance coverage under 

the National Flood Insurance Program for new construction, 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 ‘‘Build for Future Dis5 asters Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) According to the National Oceanic and At9 mospheric Administration, since 2000, flooding has 

10 become the most common and costly natural disaster 


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1 in the United States, impacting all 50 States and 

2 causing more than $845 billion in damage. 

3 (2) A 2019 report from the California-based 

4 analytics company CoreLogic found that 7.3 million 

5 homes along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts alone are 

6 at risk from storm surge, with a potential $1.8 tril7 lion in reconstruction costs. 

8 (3) Research from New York University’s 

9 Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy 

10 estimated that, in 2015, 15 million people nation11 wide lived in the 100-year floodplain spread across 

12 coastal and inland States. 

13 (4) The National Flood Insurance Program 

14 (NFIP), administered by the Federal Emergency 

15 Management Agency (FEMA), provides federally 

16 backed flood insurance in over 22,000 communities 

17 in 56 States and jurisdictions in the United States 

18 with more than 5 million policies providing over $1.3 

19 trillion in coverage. 

20 (5) In 1966, while calling for the creation of 

21 the NFIP, the Task Force on Federal Flood Control 

22 Policy provided ‘‘a caution on flood insurance’’ that 

23 if ‘‘incorrectly applied, it could exacerbate the whole 

24 problem of flood losses.’’. The report warned that in25 surance coverage not proportionate to risk would 


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1 ‘‘invite economic waste of great magnitude . . . ag2 gravate flood damages and constitute gross public ir3 responsibility’’. 

4 (6) According to the Government Accountability 

5 Office (GAO), the NFIP offers 20 percent of policy6 holders heavily subsidized rates that FEMA esti7 mates may be 45 to 50 percent below a full-risk 

8 rate. 

9 (7) Since 2005, the NFIP has borrowed nearly 

10 $40 billion from taxpayers to meet policyholder in11 surance claims. 

12 (8) In 2017, the Congressional Budget Office 

13 estimated that under its current model the NFIP is 

14 expected to lose $1.3 billion a year. 

15 (9) Historically, repeatedly flooded properties 

16 have accounted for just 1 percent of properties with 

17 National Flood Insurance Program policies but 

18 about 25 to 30 percent of flood claims. Nationwide 

19 more than 150,000 properties have repeatedly flood20 ed at a cost to the NFIP of more than $12.5 billion. 

21 (10) On May 26, 2019, four former FEMA Ad22 ministrators wrote a letter to Congressional leaders 

23 stating: ‘‘Change is needed to allow the NFIP to pay 

24 off its debt and serve its purposes of reducing Fed25 eral disaster spending following flood events, miniVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:02 Nov 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8616.IH H8616

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1 mizing flood losses, and discouraging unwise build2 ing in flood-prone areas.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of the Congress that the Federal Gov5 ernment should— 

6 (1) discourage regulation and policies that re7 sult in building and rebuilding homes located in high 

8 flood-risk areas; 

9 (2) limit the availability of federally subsidized 

10 flood insurance for construction of new homes, busi11 ness, and infrastructure; 

12 (3) coordinate with floodplain managers, city 

13 planners, administrators, and local elected officials 

14 to ensure that structures built in flood-prone areas 

15 comply with building and elevation codes and regula16 tions that are designed to reduce their risk of dam17 age from flooding; and 

18 (4) prioritize increased mitigation funding 

19 through new and existing programs to help commu20 nities better prepare for future flood disasters before 

21 they happen. 


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1 SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF SUBSIDIES FOR NEW CONSTRUC2 TION. 

3 Subsection (c) of section 1308 of the National Flood 

4 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015(c)) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(3) NEW CONSTRUCTION.—Any property the 

7 construction or substantial improvement of which 

8 the Administrator determines has been started on or 

9 after January 1, 2025, and the appropriate actuarial 

10 rate shall be adjusted with any changes to the flood 

11 zone or base flood elevation reflected in relevant 

12 flood insurance rate map, regardless of the previous 

13 rating; in determining whether a property is subject 

14 to this paragraph, the Administrator shall consider 

15 the issue date for any relevant building permit or oc16 cupancy certificate issued by the community in 

17 which such property is located; for purposes of this 

18 paragraph only, a determination regarding substan19 tial improvement may exclude the costs of any im20 provement to a structure or the structure’s associ21 ated land area for which the primary purpose is 

22 flood mitigation or floodproofing; such improvements 

23 may include elevation of the building or utilities, 

24 floodproofing, or other site-specific mitigation activi25 ties that would otherwise meet the eligibility requireVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Nov 03, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8616.IH H8616

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1 ments established by the Administrator under au2 thority of section 1366(c) (42 U.S.C. 4104c(c)).’’. 

3 SEC. 5. GAO STUDY AND REPORT. 

4 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 

5 conduct a study to determine the feasibility and effects 

6 of— 

7 (1) eliminating, by January 1, 2027, all sub8 sidies that reduce premiums for coverage under the 

9 National Flood Insurance Program of the Federal 

10 Emergency Management Agency to amounts that 

11 are less than the amount that is actuarially nec12 essary for such Program to operate without a deficit; 

13 and 

14 (2) prohibiting any subsidy described in para15 graph (1) for any property unless mitigation activi16 ties to decrease the risk of flood damage to such 

17 property have been completed. 

18 Not later than the expiration of the 12-month period be19 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

20 Comptroller General shall submit a report to the Congress 

21 that describes the findings of the study pursuant to this 

22 section. 

Æ 


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