II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1890 

To allow individuals to opt-out of the National Flood Insurance Program, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 26, 2007 

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

the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To allow individuals to opt-out of the National Flood 

Insurance Program, 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 ‘‘Flood Insurance 

5 Choice Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RIGHT TO OPT-OUT. 

7 Section 102(c) of the Flood Disaster Protection Act 

8 of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(c)) is amended by adding at 

9 the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(3) INDIVIDUAL OPT-OUT.— 


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•S 1890 IS

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

2 other provision of this Act, or the National 

3 Flood Insurance Act of 1968, any individual 

4 homeowner who satisfies the requirements 

5 under subparagraph (B) shall not be required 

6 to purchase flood insurance on any property, in7 cluding any property in an area that has been 

8 identified by the Administrator as an area hav9 ing special flood hazards. 

10 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements 

11 referred to in subparagraph (A) are as follows: 

12 ‘‘(i) WRITTEN CERTIFICATION TO THE

13 ADMINISTRATOR AND COMMUNITY.—The 

14 individual homeowner shall certify, in writ15 ing, to the Administrator and the State, 

16 community, or local official responsible for 

17 zoning and building codes over the area in 

18 which such property is located that the in19 dividual— 

20 ‘‘(I) elects not to participate in 

21 the flood insurance program under the 

22 National Flood Insurance Act of 

23 1968; and 

24 ‘‘(II) understands and willfully 

25 accepts any and all adverse conVerDate Aug 31 2005 07:04 Jul 27, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1890.IS S1890

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1 sequence that attach to such an elec2 tion, including— 

3 ‘‘(aa) denial of any Federal 

4 financial assistance under this 

5 Act or the National Flood Insur6 ance Act of 1968; 

7 ‘‘(bb) denial of any Federal 

8 financial assistance for acquisi9 tion or construction purposes 

10 under this Act or the National 

11 Flood Insurance Act of 1968; 

12 ‘‘(cc) denial of any Federal 

13 financial assistance under sec14 tions 404, 408, and 425 of the 

15 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re16 lief and Emergency Assistance 

17 Act for damage as a result, in 

18 whole or in part, of a flood; or 

19 ‘‘(dd) loss of value to the 

20 property. 

21 ‘‘(ii) RECORDING OFCERTIFI22 CATION.— 

23 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The indi24 vidual homeowner shall file the certifi25 cation required under clause (i) with 


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1 the appropriate State or local agency 

2 responsible for recording deeds, liens, 

3 or mortgages of real property in which 

4 the property that is the subject of 

5 such certification is located. 

6 ‘‘(II) EFFECT OF RECORDING.— 

7 The recording of the certification 

8 under clause (i) shall— 

9 ‘‘(aa) attach to the property 

10 that is the subject of such certifi11 cation; and 

12 ‘‘(bb) bind the current 

13 owner of the property and all fu14 ture owners of the property, in15 cluding successor in interests, as16 signs, or heirs, who at any time 

17 hold title to all or any portion of 

18 such property. 

19 ‘‘(III) VOLUNTARY RELEASE.— 

20 ‘‘(aa) IN GENERAL.—The 

21 current owner and any future 

22 owner, the personal representa23 tive of any such owner, the estate 

24 of any deceased owner, or any 

25 qualified heir of a deceased 


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1 owner (as such term is defined in 

2 section 2032A(e) of the Internal 

3 Revenue Code) may voluntarily 

4 file a document terminating the 

5 effect of the certification required 

6 under clause (i) with the appro7 priate State or local agency re8 sponsible for recording, deeds, 

9 liens, or mortgages of real prop10 erty in which the affected real 

11 property interest is located. 

12 ‘‘(bb) EFFECT.—The effect 

13 of filing any termination under 

14 item (aa) shall be to void the cer15 tification under clause (i). 

16 ‘‘(C) BASE FLOOD ELEVATION REQUIRE17 MENTS.—An individual homeowner that has 

18 elected not to purchase flood insurance under 

19 this paragraph with respect to property owned 

20 by such individual shall not be required to com21 ply with any base flood elevation requirements 

22 under this Act or the National Flood Insurance 

23 Act of 1968 for such property.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. ENSURING THAT COMMUNITIES ARE NOT AD2 VERSELY AFFECTED BY INDIVIDUALS WHO 

3 OPT-OUT. 

4 (a) LAND USE CONTROLS.—Section 1315(a) of the 

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

6 4022(a)) is amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para8 graph (3); and 

9 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol10 lowing new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(2) NO PENALTY FOR AREAS WHERE INDIVID12 UALS OPT-OUT.—The prohibition described under 

13 paragraph (1) shall not be construed to apply to any 

14 area that has complied with requirements under that 

15 paragraph but for those individuals that have elected 

16 to opt-out of the flood insurance program under sec17 tion 102(c)(3) of the Flood Disaster Protection Act 

18 of 1973.’’. 

19 (b) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—Section 202 of the 

20 Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4106) 

21 is amended— 

22 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub23 section (c); and 

24 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol25 lowing new subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(b) NO PENALTY FOR AREAS WHERE INDIVIDUALS

2 OPT-OUT.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The prohibition described 

4 under subsection (a) shall not be construed to apply 

5 to any community that has complied with require6 ments under that subsection but for those individ7 uals that have elected to opt-out of the flood insur8 ance program under section 102(c)(3). 

9 ‘‘(2) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

10 this subsection shall be construed to require any 

11 Federal agency or officer to provide any financial as12 sistance for acquisition or construction purposes to 

13 any individuals that have elected to opt-out of the 

14 flood insurance program under section 102(c)(3).’’. 

15 (c) MITIGATION ASSISTANCE.—Section 1366(c) of 

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

17 4104c(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following 

18 new sentence: ‘‘A State or community shall not be consid19 ered ineligible to receive financial assistance under this 

20 section for mitigation activities solely because individuals 

21 in that State or community have elected to opt-out of the 

22 flood insurance program under section 102(c)(3) of the 

23 Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. DENIAL OF RELIEF UNDER STAFFORD ACT. 

2 Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

3 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is 

4 amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 427. DENIAL OF ASSISTANCE FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO 

6 HAVE OPTED-OUT OF THE FLOOD INSURANCE 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No individual or household shall 

9 receive any assistance under section 404, 408, or 425, 

10 with respect to property owned by that individual or 

11 household, if such assistance is needed as a result, in 

12 whole or in part, of a flood, and such individual or house13 hold has elected with respect to such property to opt-out 

14 of the flood insurance program under section 102(c)(3) 

15 of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973. 

16 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION OF FLOOD.—As used in this sec17 tion, the term ‘flood’ has the same meaning as in section 

18 1370 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 

19 U.S.C. 4121).’’ 

Æ 


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