II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1417 

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 

MAY 3, 2023 

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. SCHATZ) 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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEATEDLY 

2 FLOODED AREAS. 

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

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

5 by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(e) COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPEAT7 EDLY DAMAGED AREAS.— 

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

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

10 a community— 

11 ‘‘(i) that is participating in the na12 tional flood insurance program under sec13 tion 1315; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) within which are located— 

15 ‘‘(I) not fewer than 50 repetitive 

16 loss structures with respect to each of 

17 which, during any 10-year period, 

18 there have been not fewer than 2 

19 claims for payments under flood in20 surance coverage for a total amount 

21 that is more than $1,000; 

22 ‘‘(II) not fewer than 5 severe re23 petitive loss structures for which miti24 gation activities meeting the stand25 ards for approval under section 


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1 1366(c)(2)(A) have not been con2 ducted; or 

3 ‘‘(III) a public facility or a pri4 vate nonprofit facility that has re5 ceived assistance for repair, restora6 tion, reconstruction, or replacement 

7 under section 406 of the Robert T. 

8 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer9 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 5172) relating to more than 1 flood11 ing event during the most recent 10- 

12 year period; 

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

14 and ‘public facility’ have the meanings given 

15 those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. 

16 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist17 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122); and 

18 ‘‘(C) the term ‘severe repetitive loss struc19 ture’ has the meaning given the term in section 

20 1366(h). 

21 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERED COMMU22 NITIES.—The Administrator shall, by regulation, re23 quire a covered community to— 

24 ‘‘(A) determine the areas within the cov25 ered community in which properties described 


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1 in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) or flood-damaged facili2 ties are located in order to identify areas that 

3 are repeatedly damaged by floods; 

4 ‘‘(B) assess, with assistance from the Ad5 ministrator, the continuing risks to the repeat6 edly damaged areas identified under subpara7 graph (A); 

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

9 mitigating continuing flood risks to the repeat10 edly damaged areas identified under subpara11 graph (A); 

12 ‘‘(D) submit the plan described in subpara13 graph (C), and any plan updates, to the Admin14 istrator at appropriate intervals; 

15 ‘‘(E) implement the plan described in sub16 paragraph (C) and any updates to the plan; and 

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

18 United States Code, make the plan described in 

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

20 reports on progress in reducing flood risk avail21 able to the public. 

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

23 A covered community may incorporate a plan devel24 oped under paragraph (2)(C), including any updates 


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1 to such a plan, into a mitigation plan developed 

2 under— 

3 ‘‘(A) section 1366; and 

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

5 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 5165). 

7 ‘‘(4) ASSISTANCE TO COMMUNITIES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DATA.—To assist a covered commu9 nity in developing a plan required under para10 graph (2)(C), including any updates to such a 

11 plan, the Administrator shall, upon request, 

12 provide the covered community with appropriate 

13 data regarding the property addresses and 

14 dates of claims associated with insured prop15 erties within the covered community. 

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

17 determination regarding financial assistance 

18 under this Act, the Administrator may consider 

19 the extent to which a covered community— 

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

21 and 

22 ‘‘(ii) is working to remedy problems 

23 with respect to repeatedly flooded areas. 

24 ‘‘(5) SANCTIONS.— 


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

2 may, by regulations issued in accordance with 

3 the procedures required under section 553 of 

4 title 5, United States Code, impose appropriate 

5 sanctions on a covered community that fails 

6 to— 

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

8 ‘‘(ii) make sufficient progress in re9 ducing the flood risks to areas in the cov10 ered community that are repeatedly dam11 aged by floods. 

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

13 sanctions described in subparagraph (A) may 

14 include suspension from the national flood in15 surance program or probation under that pro16 gram, as provided under section 59.24 of title 

17 44, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on 

18 the date of enactment of this subsection. 

19 ‘‘(C) NOTICE.— 

20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Before imposing 

21 any sanctions under this paragraph, the 

22 Administrator shall provide the covered 

23 community that is subject to the sanctions 

24 with notice of the violation that may subVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1417.IS S1417

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1 ject the covered community to the sanc2 tions. 

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

4 under clause (i) shall include recommenda5 tions for actions that the covered commu6 nity receiving the notice may take in order 

7 to bring the covered community into com8 pliance. 

9 ‘‘(D) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 

10 appropriate sanctions to impose under this 

11 paragraph, the Administrator shall consider the 

12 resources available to the covered community 

13 that is subject to the sanctions, including— 

14 ‘‘(i) any Federal funding received by 

15 the covered community; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the portion of the covered com17 munity that lies within an area having spe18 cial flood hazards; and 

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

20 difficult for the covered community to con21 duct mitigation activities for flood-prone 

22 structures. 

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

24 6 years after the date of enactment of this sub25 section, and not less frequently than once every 2 


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1 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to 

2 Congress a report regarding the progress made by 

3 covered communities with respect to implementing 

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

5 any updates to those plans.’’. 

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

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

8 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue regu9 lations necessary to carry out subsection (e) of section 

10 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 

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

Æ 


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