I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 968 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to allow the rebuilding, 

without elevation, of certain structures located in special flood hazard 

zones that are damaged by fire, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 5, 2013 

Ms. MATSUI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to 

allow the rebuilding, without elevation, of certain structures located in special flood hazard zones that are damaged by fire, 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 ‘‘Fire-Damaged Home 

5 Rebuilding Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE AND LOCAL LAND USE 

2 CONTROLS. 

3 Subsection (a) of section 1315 of the National Flood 

4 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4022(a)) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(3) ALLOWABLE LOCAL VARIANCES FOR CER7 TAIN RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—Notwithstanding 

9 any other provision of this Act, the land use 

10 and control measures adopted pursuant to 

11 paragraph (1) may not, for purposes of such 

12 paragraph, be considered to be inadequate or 

13 inconsistent with the comprehensive criteria for 

14 land management and use under section 1361 

15 because such measures provide that, in the case 

16 of any residential structure that is located in a 

17 covered area and is substantially damaged by 

18 fire, a variance in accordance with subpara19 graph (C) may be granted, and the Adminis20 trator may not suspend a community from par21 ticipation in the national flood insurance pro22 gram, or place such a community on probation 

23 under such program, because such land use and 

24 control measures provide for such a variance. 


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1 ‘‘(B) COVERED AREA.—For purposes of 

2 subparagraph (A), the term ‘covered area’ 

3 means an area that— 

4 ‘‘(i) has special flood hazards; 

5 ‘‘(ii) will be protected by a levee sys6 tem that will meet the requirements of sec7 tion 65.10 of the Administrator’s regula8 tions (44 C.F.R. 65.10) and toward the re9 pair, replacement, or construction of which 

10 adequate progress, acceptable to the Ad11 ministrator, has been made; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) absent the protection provided 

13 by such levee, is subject to significant base 

14 flood elevations of not less than a reason15 able height, as determined by the Adminis16 trator. 

17 ‘‘(C) VARIANCE; CONSIDERATIONS.—A 

18 variance in accordance with this subparagraph 

19 is a variance, granted by an appropriate official 

20 of the community, from compliance with such 

21 land use and control measures that allows for 

22 the repair and restoration of such structure to 

23 its predamaged condition without elevation of 

24 the structure, but only after a determination by 

25 such appropriate official that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the repaired and restored struc2 ture is located on the original location of 

3 the structure prior to such fire damage 

4 and the footprint of such repaired and re5 stored structure does not exceed the foot6 print of the original structure; 

7 ‘‘(ii) the elevation of the repaired and 

8 restored structure is consistent with exist9 ing construction in the neighborhood; 

10 ‘‘(iii) no claims payments have been 

11 made under flood insurance coverage under 

12 this title for losses to such structure; 

13 ‘‘(iv) the owner of the structure for 

14 which the variance is granted has owned 

15 the structure continually from before the 

16 time of the fire damage referred to in sub17 paragraph (A); and 

18 ‘‘(v) the repair and restoration of the 

19 structure is for the purpose of continued 

20 occupancy by such owner.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. PREMIUM RATES. 

22 Section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 

23 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015) is amended by adding at the end 

24 the following new subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(j) PREMIUM RATES FOR STRUCTURES WITH CER2 TAIN VARIANCES.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

3 of this Act, the chargeable premium rate for coverage 

4 under this title for any residential structure provided a 

5 variance pursuant to section 1315(a)(3) shall, after repair 

6 and restoration of the structure pursuant to such variance, 

7 be the rate that otherwise would apply to such structure 

8 if the structure had not been substantially damaged and 

9 repaired and restored pursuant to such variance.’’. 

Æ 


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