II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2170 

To amend the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 to make 

reforms to flood mapping programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 18, 2019 

Mr. WICKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act 

of 2012 to make reforms to flood mapping programs, 

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 ‘‘Municipality Empower5 ment Mapping Achievement Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘MEMA 

6 Act of 2019’’. 

7 SEC. 2. NATIONAL FLOOD MAPPING PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 100216 of the Biggert9 Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (42 U.S.C. 

10 4101b) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b)(1)— 

2 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘to— 

3 ’’ and all that follows through the end of clause 

4 (vi) and inserting ‘‘to all areas of the United 

5 States;’’; 

6 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

7 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

8 (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘ac9 curate topography’’ and all that follows through 

10 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘current 

11 and best remote sensing technology; and’’; and 

12 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(D) when appropriate, partner with other 

14 Federal agencies and private entities in order to 

15 meet the objectives of the program.’’; 

16 (2) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub17 section (g); and 

18 (3) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(f) INCORPORATING BUILDING-SPECIFIC FLOOD

21 RISK INFORMATION.— 

22 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years 

24 after the date of enactment of the Municipality 

25 Empowerment Mapping Achievement Act of 


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1 2019, the Administrator, in coordination with, 

2 and as recommended by, the Technical Mapping 

3 Advisory Council, shall establish a dynamic, 

4 database-derived digital display environment for 

5 flood hazard risk production and dissemination. 

6 ‘‘(B) CONSULTATION WITH STATES AND

7 COMMUNITIES.—In designing and constructing 

8 the environment under subparagraph (A), the 

9 Administrator shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) leverage and partner with States 

11 and communities that have successfully im12 plemented the same approach; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) consider adopting the techniques 

14 and technologies used by States and com15 munities described in clause (i) and apply16 ing those techniques and technologies na17 tionwide. 

18 ‘‘(2) DIGITAL DISPLAY.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out para20 graph (1), the Administrator shall create a dig21 ital display prompted through dynamic querying 

22 of a spatial, relational building database that 

23 may not be publically disseminated and that in24 cludes— 


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1 ‘‘(i) special flood hazard areas and 

2 base flood elevations for purposes of lender 

3 compliance with the requirements under 

4 section 102 of the Flood Disaster Protec5 tion Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a); and 

6 ‘‘(ii) structure-specific flood risk infor7 mation, including, for each property ad8 dress— 

9 ‘‘(I) the spatial footprint and ele10 vation of the structure relative to spe11 cial flood hazard areas and base flood 

12 elevations; 

13 ‘‘(II) the most current elevation 

14 certificate applicable to the property; 

15 ‘‘(III) any letter of map changes; 

16 ‘‘(IV) the full risk premium rate 

17 estimated for the structure under sec18 tion 1307(a)(1) of the National Flood 

19 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

20 4014(a)(1)) based on elevation data; 

21 ‘‘(V) the disclosure described in 

22 section 1308(l) of the National Flood 

23 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

24 4015(l)), which shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(aa) the extent to which, if 

2 any, the chargeable premium rate 

3 applicable to the property is less 

4 than the full risk premium rate 

5 under section 1307(a)(1) of that 

6 Act (42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(1)); and 

7 ‘‘(bb) an explanation of the 

8 difference described in item (aa) 

9 and the methodology used to rate 

10 the property; 

11 ‘‘(VI) the estimated cost to re12 pair the structure in the case of dam13 age from floods with recurrence inter14 vals ranging from the 10 percent an15 nual chance event to the 0.2 percent 

16 annual chance event; 

17 ‘‘(VII) the cost-effectiveness of 

18 mitigating the structure using com19 mon methods and how the chargeable 

20 premium rate would change based on 

21 each mitigation method; and 

22 ‘‘(VIII) the claims history of the 

23 structure, including the amount and 

24 date of each loss. 


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1 ‘‘(B) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS.—With re2 spect to the database described in subparagraph 

3 (A), including any data used to create that 

4 database, the Administrator may not dissemi5 nate the database to— 

6 ‘‘(i) the public; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) a private company for use by the 

8 private company. 

9 ‘‘(3) DATABASE.— 

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

11 shall— 

12 ‘‘(i) develop a spatial, relational data13 base of buildings in the national flood in14 surance program; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) obtain the data necessary to sup16 port the digital display created under para17 graph (2). 

18 ‘‘(B) DATA.—The data obtained under 

19 subparagraph (A) shall include, at a min20 imum— 

21 ‘‘(i) footprints and elevations (includ22 ing lowest adjacent grade and first floor) 

23 from Light Detection and Ranging (com24 monly known as ‘LiDAR’) data collections 

25 or other data collection methods that meet 


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1 or exceed the standards for buildings, as 

2 determined by the Administrator; 

3 ‘‘(ii) elevation certificates; 

4 ‘‘(iii) parcel, address, and imagery 

5 data necessary for the identification, as6 sessment, and reduction of flood hazards 

7 for individual properties; 

8 ‘‘(iv) flood insurance rate maps, stud9 ies, and supporting data; 

10 ‘‘(v) letters of map change; and 

11 ‘‘(vi) any other data that the Adminis12 trator determines necessary to collect to 

13 meet the objectives of this section. 

14 ‘‘(4) DATA PROCUREMENT.—The Administrator 

15 shall obtain any data necessary to establish the envi16 ronment under paragraph (1), including by— 

17 ‘‘(A) directing communities participating 

18 in the National Flood Insurance Program, by 

19 regulation, to collect and supply information, 

20 including elevation data, for each structure that 

21 obtains a construction or other development 

22 permit within— 

23 ‘‘(i) a special flood hazard area; or 

24 ‘‘(ii) an advisory special flood hazard 

25 area adopted by the community; 


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1 ‘‘(B) issuing guidelines and standards, as 

2 determined by the Administrator; 

3 ‘‘(C) partnering with other Federal, State, 

4 local, and private stakeholders to the greatest 

5 extent possible to obtain and share existing 

6 data that meets or exceeds the standards deter7 mined by the Administrator under subpara8 graph (B); and 

9 ‘‘(D) contracting with private companies to 

10 obtain new LiDAR data collections or elevation 

11 certificates. 

12 ‘‘(5) NFIP PREMIUM CREDIT.—The Adminis13 trator shall provide a 1-time premium credit of not 

14 more than $500 to a policyholder for the purchase 

15 of an elevation certificate. 

16 ‘‘(6) MASS LETTERS OF MAP CHANGE.—In co17 ordination with States and communities that have 

18 successfully implemented a dynamic, database-de19 rived digital display environment for flood hazard 

20 risk production and dissemination, the Adminis21 trator shall issue guidelines for the adoption and in22 tegration into the National Flood Mapping Program 

23 of LiDAR-based letter of map amendment ap24 proaches. 


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1 ‘‘(7) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Administrator 

2 shall submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

3 and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 

4 on Financial Services of the House of Representa5 tives an annual progress report on the implementa6 tion of this subsection, which shall include rec7 ommendations to reduce the cost and improve the 

8 implementation of this subsection.’’. 

9 (b) REIMBURSEMENT AUTHORITY.—Section 1360 of 

10 the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

11 4101) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(k) REIMBURSEMENT AUTHORITY.—With respect to 

13 any State or local agency that assists the Administrator 

14 in carrying out the responsibilities of the Administrator 

15 under subsection (a)(2), the Administrator may reimburse 

16 the State or local agency for the cost of providing that 

17 assistance if the State or local agency, in providing the 

18 assistance, complies with— 

19 ‘‘(1) any standards established by the Adminis20 trator under this section; and 

21 ‘‘(2) the guidance document entitled ‘Guidance 

22 for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping: Physical Map 

23 Revision (PMR)’, published by the Administrator in 

24 November 2016.’’. 

Æ 


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