I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5559 

To revise the National Flood Insurance Program to more fairly treat 

homeowners who purchase insurance under the program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 17, 2010 

Mr. HINCHEY (for himself, Mr. ARCURI, and Mr. MURPHY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To revise the National Flood Insurance Program to more 

fairly treat homeowners who purchase insurance under 

the program. 

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 Fair5 ness Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. 5-YEAR DELAY IN EFFECTIVE DATE OF MANDATORY 

2 PURCHASE REQUIREMENT FOR NEW FLOOD 

3 HAZARD AREAS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Flood Disaster 

5 Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a) is amended by 

6 adding at the end the following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(i) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE OF MANDATORY

8 PURCHASE REQUIREMENT FOR NEW FLOOD HAZARD

9 AREAS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any area 

11 that was not previously designated as an area having 

12 special flood hazards and that, pursuant to any 

13 issuance, revision, updating, or other change in flood 

14 insurance maps that takes effect on or after Sep15 tember 1, 2008, becomes designated as an area hav16 ing special flood hazards, such designation shall not 

17 take effect for purposes of subsection (a), (b), or (e) 

18 of this section, or section 202(a) of this Act, until 

19 the expiration of the 5-year period beginning upon 

20 the date that such maps, as issued, revised, update, 

21 or otherwise changed, become effective. 

22 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

23 paragraph (1) may be construed to affect the appli24 cability of a designation of any area as an area hav25 ing special flood hazards for purposes of the avail26 ability of flood insurance coverage, criteria for land 


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1 management and use, notification of flood hazards, 

2 eligibility for mitigation assistance, or any other pur3 pose or provision not specifically referred to in para4 graph (1).’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The second sen6 tence of subsection (h) of section 1360 of the National 

7 Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101(h)) is 

8 amended by striking ‘‘Such’’ and inserting ‘‘Except for no9 tice regarding a change described in section 102(i)(1) of 

10 the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 

11 4012a(i)(1)), such’’. 

12 (c) NO REFUNDS.—Nothing in this section or the 

13 amendments made by this section may be construed to au14 thorize or require any payment or refund for flood insur15 ance coverage purchased for any property that covered any 

16 period during which such coverage is not required for the 

17 property pursuant to the applicability of the amendment 

18 made by subsection (a). 

19 SEC. 3. 5-YEAR PHASE-IN OF FLOOD INSURANCE RATES 

20 FOR NEWLY MAPPED AREAS. 

21 Section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 

22 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015) is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 

24 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or notice’’ after ‘‘pre25 scribe by regulation’’; 


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1 (2) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘and sub2 section (g)’’ before the first comma; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub4 section: 

5 ‘‘(g) 5-YEAR PHASE-IN OF FLOOD INSURANCE

6 RATES FOR NEWLY MAPPED AREAS.—Notwithstanding 

7 any other provision of law relating to chargeable risk pre8 mium rates for flood insurance coverage under this title, 

9 in the case of any property that is located within any area 

10 that was not previously designated as an area having spe11 cial flood hazards and that, pursuant to any issuance, revi12 sion, updating, or other change in flood insurance maps, 

13 becomes designated as such an area, during the 5-year pe14 riod that begins upon the earlier of (A) the expiration of 

15 the period referred to in section 102(i)(1) of the Flood 

16 Disaster Protection Act of 1973 with respect to such area, 

17 or (B) the first date during such period referred to in such 

18 section 102(i)(1) with respect to such area that flood in19 surance coverage under this title is in effect for such prop20 erty, the chargeable premium rate for flood insurance 

21 under this title with respect to such shall be— 

22 ‘‘(1) for the first year of such 5-year period, 20 

23 percent of the chargeable risk premium rate other24 wise applicable under this title to the property; 


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1 ‘‘(2) for the second year of such 5-year period, 

2 40 percent of the chargeable risk premium rate oth3 erwise applicable under this title to the property; 

4 ‘‘(3) for the third year of such 5-year period, 60 

5 percent of the chargeable risk premium rate other6 wise applicable under this title to the property; 

7 ‘‘(4) for the fourth year of such 5-year period, 

8 80 percent of the chargeable risk premium rate oth9 erwise applicable under this title to the property; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(5) for the fifth year of such 5-year period, 

12 100 percent of the chargeable risk premium rate 

13 otherwise applicable under this title to the prop14 erty.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. REIMBURSEMENT OF PROPERTY OWNERS FOR 

16 COSTS INCURRED IN REQUESTS TO REMOVE 

17 PROPERTY FROM BASE FLOOD ELEVATIONS. 

18 Section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 

19 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101) is amended by adding at the end 

20 the following new subsection: 

21 ‘‘(k) REIMBURSEMENT OF PROPERTY OWNERS FOR

22 COSTS INCURRED IN REQUESTS TO REMOVE PROPERTY

23 FROM BASE FLOOD ELEVATIONS.—If an owner of a real 

24 property incurs expense in connection with the services of 

25 surveyors, engineers, or similar services, but not including 


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1 legal services, in effecting any request to the Director to 

2 remove the property from inclusion within the base flood 

3 elevations established under flood insurance map panels, 

4 and the Director grants such request in whole or in part, 

5 the Director shall reimburse such individual for such ex6 pense. The amount of such reimbursement shall be deter7 mined by the Director, based on the ratio of the successful 

8 portion of the request as compared to the entire request. 

9 The Director shall apply such ratio to the average cost 

10 of such services in the community for jobs of a similar 

11 size.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. COMMUNITY OUTREACH PLAN FOR UPDATING 

13 FLOODPLAIN AREAS AND FLOOD-RISK 

14 ZONES. 

15 The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man16 agement Agency— 

17 (1) shall, not later than the expiration of the 

18 60-day period beginning upon the date of the enact19 ment of this Act, submit to the Congress a commu20 nity outreach plan for the updating of floodplain 

21 areas and flood-risk zones under section 1360(f) of 

22 the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 

23 U.S.C. 4101(f)); and 

24 (2) may not revise and update any floodplain 

25 area or flood-risk zone under such section 1360(f) of 


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1 the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 until the 

2 date on which the Administrator submits such com3 munity outreach plan. 

4 SEC. 6. NOTIFICATION OF ESTABLISHMENT OF FLOOD ELE5 VATIONS. 

6 Section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 

7 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101), as amended by the preceding pro8 visions of this Act, is further amended by adding at the 

9 end the following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(l) NOTIFICATION TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS OF

11 MAP MODERNIZATION.—Upon any revision or update of 

12 any floodplain area or flood-risk zone pursuant to sub13 section (f), any decision pursuant to subsection (f)(1) that 

14 such revision or update is necessary, any issuance of pre15 liminary maps for such revision or updating, or any other 

16 significant action relating to any such revision or update, 

17 the Director shall notify the Senators for each State af18 fected, and each Member of the House of Representatives 

19 for each congressional district affected, by such revision 

20 or update in writing of the action taken.’’. 

Æ 


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