I

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4832

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to reduce losses from

repetitive flooding.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 14, 1998

Mr. BENTSEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to

reduce losses from repetitive flooding.

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 ‘‘Repetitive Flood Loss

5 Reduction Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. REPETITIVE FLOOD LOSS REDUCTION.

7 Chapter III of the National Flood Insurance Act of

8 1968 is amended by adding after section 1367 (42 U.S.C.

9 4104d) the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 1368. REPETITIVE FLOOD LOSS REDUCTION.

2 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—The Director shall carry out a

3 program to mitigate repetitive flood losses to property by

4 providing financial assistance to States, communities, and

5 local flood management agencies for planning and carry6 ing out activities designed to reduce expenditures from the

7 National Flood Insurance Fund for damages to properties

8 caused by repetitive flooding. Such financial assistance

9 shall be made available to States, communities, and local

10 flood management agencies in the form of grants under

11 this section for carrying out mitigation activities.

12 ‘‘(b) PROVISION OF ASSISTANCE.—The Director shall

13 provide assistance under this section to the extent

14 amounts are available pursuant to appropriation Acts,

15 subject only to the absence of approvable requests for such

16 assistance.

17 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE MITIGATION ACTIVITIES.—

18 ‘‘(1) USE OF AMOUNTS.—Assistance provided

19 under this section may be used only for mitigation

20 activities under paragraph (2) that are proposed in

21 a request for assistance under subsection (d) and

22 approved by the Director pursuant to subsection (e).

23 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Mitigation activi24 ties under this paragraph shall include—

25 ‘‘(A) elevation, relocation (subject to sub26 section (f)), demolition, or floodproofing of
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1 structures (including public structures) located

2 in areas having special flood hazards or other

3 areas of flood risk;

4 ‘‘(B) subject to subsection (f), acquisition

5 by States and communities of properties (in6 cluding public properties) located in areas hav7 ing special flood hazards or other areas of flood

8 risk for public use, as the Director determines

9 is consistent with sound land management and

10 use in such areas;

11 ‘‘(C) minor physical mitigation efforts that

12 do not duplicate the flood prevention activities

13 of other Federal agencies, States, communities,

14 or local flood management agencies and that

15 lessen the frequency or severity of flooding and

16 decrease predicted flood damages, which shall

17 not include major flood control projects such as

18 dikes, levees, seawalls, groins, and jetties unless

19 the Director specifically determines in approv20 ing a mitigation project that such projects are

21 the most cost-effective mitigation activities for

22 protecting the National Flood Insurance Fund;

23 ‘‘(D) purchase of property in accordance

24 with subsection (h); and
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1 ‘‘(E) other activities that the Director con2 siders appropriate and specifies in regulations.

3 ‘‘(d) REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE.—To be eligible to

4 receive financial assistance under this section for mitiga5 tion activities, a State, community, or local flood manage6 ment agency shall submit a request for assistance for miti7 gation activities that contains—

8 ‘‘(1) a description of the property or community

9 that the activities will protect;

10 ‘‘(2) a statement of the aggregate amount of

11 payments made under the flood insurance program

12 under this title pursuant to insurance claims for

13 such property or properties in such community;

14 ‘‘(3) a description of the mitigation activities

15 for which the assistance is requested;

16 ‘‘(4) information sufficient to demonstrate that

17 the activities are eligible under subsection (c)(2) for

18 assistance and meet the requirements under sub19 section (e) for approval; and

20 ‘‘(5) any other information the Director may re21 quire.

22 ‘‘(e) APPROVAL.—

23 ‘‘(1) CRITERIA.—The Director may approve

24 only requests for mitigation activities that specify

25 mitigation activities that the Director determines—
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1 ‘‘(A) have been proposed by the State,

2 community, or local flood management agency

3 requesting assistance to reduce repetitive flood

4 losses pursuant to an evaluation and analysis

5 (by the State, community, or local flood man6 agement agency) of flood risk and multiple

7 flood claim properties;

8 ‘‘(B) are likely to provide protection

9 against flood losses to structures covered by

10 contracts for flood insurance available under

11 this title;

12 ‘‘(C) are cost-beneficial to the National

13 Flood Insurance Fund;

14 ‘‘(D) are technically feasible and cost-effec15 tive; and

16 ‘‘(E) are consistent with other criteria that

17 are established by the Director to carry out the

18 purposes of this section.

19 ‘‘(2) TIME FOR APPROVAL OR REJECTION.—

20 The Director shall approve or reject an application

21 for assistance under this subsection not later than

22 30 days after receiving such application.

23 ‘‘(f) DISPOSITION OF ACQUIRED PROPERTY.—A miti24 gation activity involving acquisition of property or reloca25 tion of a structure shall be eligible to receive financial as-
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1 sistance under this section only if the applicant for the

2 assistance enters into an agreement with the Director that

3 provides assurances that any property acquired, accepted,

4 or from which a structure will be removed in accordance

5 with the activity will be dedicated and maintained in per6 petuity for a use that is compatible with open space, rec7 reational, or wetlands management practices.

8 ‘‘(g) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.—Ex9 cept as provided in subsection (h), the Director may not

10 provide financial assistance under this section in an

11 amount exceeding 75 percent of the total cost of the miti12 gation activities to be financed using such assistance. The

13 Director shall may not provide financial assistance under

14 this section for any mitigation activities unless the State,

15 community, or local flood management agency that re16 ceives the assistance certifies, as the Director shall re17 quire, that at least 25 percent of the total cost of such

18 activities will be provided from non-Federal sources.

19 ‘‘(h) PURCHASE OF REPETITIVE SUBSTANTIAL LOSS

20 PROPERTIES.—

21 ‘‘(1) OFFER TO PURCHASE.—Upon determining

22 that an insured property is a repetitive substantial

23 loss property, the Director shall offer to purchase

24 the property at a price equal to the fair market

25 value of the property (including structures) at the
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1 time of the offer. Any such offer shall explicitly state

2 that the offer is contingent upon the availability of

3 amounts under subsections (k) and (l) for such pur4 chase. Any such offer shall be held open, and shall

5 not be revocable, during the period that the property

6 in covered by flood insurance coverage under this

7 title.

8 ‘‘(2) ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER.—If an owner of

9 a repetitive substantial loss property accepts an offer

10 to purchase the property made under paragraph (1),

11 the Director shall purchase the property, if amounts

12 are available pursuant to subsections (k) and (l). If

13 any local flood management agency exists that has

14 jurisdiction with respect to the area in which the

15 property is located, the Director may request that

16 the State or local flood management agency, if any,

17 coordinate and carry out the purchase for the Direc18 tor under the terms of the offer.

19 ‘‘(3) INCREASED PREMIUMS FOR REFUSAL OF

20 OFFER.—Notwithstanding section 1308, if the owner

21 of a repetitive substantial loss property does not ac22 cept an offer made by the Director pursuant to

23 paragraph (1) during the period after the offer is

24 made having such duration as the Director shall es25 tablish, thereafter the chargeable premium rate with
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1 respect to the property shall be an amount equal to

2 150 percent of the chargeable rate for the property

3 at the time that the offer was made (as adjusted by

4 any other premium adjustments otherwise applicable

5 to the property), except as provided in paragraph

6 (5), and the deductible in connection with insurance

7 provided under this title shall increase by $5,000

8 more than the deductible on such insurance at the

9 time that such offer was made.

10 ‘‘(4) NOTICE OF CONTINUED OFFER.—Upon

11 each renewal or modification of any flood insurance

12 coverage under this title for a repetitive substantial

13 loss property, the Director shall notify the owner

14 that the offer made pursuant to paragraph (1) is

15 still open.

16 ‘‘(5) INCREASED PREMIUMS UPON SUBSEQUENT

17 FLOOD DAMAGE.—Notwithstanding section 1308, if

18 the owner of a repetitive substantial loss property

19 does not accept an offer made by the Director pur20 suant to paragraph (1) and subsequently a flood

21 event causes substantial damage to the property

22 after such event, the chargeable premium rate with

23 respect to the property shall be an amount equal to

24 150 percent of the chargeable rate for the property

25 at the time of the event, as adjusted by any other
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1 premium adjustments otherwise applicable to the

2 property and any subsequent increases pursuant to

3 this paragraph, and the deductible in connection

4 with insurance provided under this title shall in5 crease by $5,000 more than the deductible on such

6 insurance at the time of the event.

7 ‘‘(6) PRIORITY.—The Director, in consultation

8 with regional flood plain administrators, shall de9 velop and periodically update a list of repetitive flood

10 loss property (including structures) which have sus11 tained multiple flood losses in excess of 125 percent

12 of the value of the property (or structures). Such

13 property shall be given priority for offers under

14 paragraph (1).

15 ‘‘(7) DEPOSIT OF REVENUES.—All amounts col16 lected from payment of deductible and premium in17 creases pursuant to this subsection shall be depos18 ited into the Repetitive Flood Mitigation Loss Re19 duction Fund created by subsection (k).

20 ‘‘(i) OVERSIGHT OF MITIGATION ACTIVITIES.—The

21 Director shall conduct oversight of recipients of financial

22 assistance under this section to ensure that the assistance

23 is used in compliance with approved mitigation activities

24 and that matching funds certified under subsection (g) are

25 used in accordance with such certification.
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1 ‘‘(j) RECAPTURE.—If the Director determines that a

2 State, community, or local flood management agency that

3 has received mitigation assistance under this section has

4 not carried out the mitigation activities as set forth in the

5 mitigation activity, the Director shall recapture such

6 amounts and deposit the amounts in the Repetitive Flood

7 Mitigation Loss Reduction Fund created by subsection

8 (k).

9 ‘‘(k) REPETITIVE FLOOD MITIGATION LOSS REDUC10 TION FUND.—There is hereby created within the Treasury

11 a fund which shall be known as the ‘‘Repetitive Flood

12 Mitigation Loss Reduction Fund’’. Amounts deposited

13 into the Repetitive Flood Mitigation Loss Reduction Fund

14 shall be available to the Director to carry out this section

15 to the extent provided by appropriation Acts.

16 ‘‘(l) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro17 priated to the Director $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2000

18 to carry out this section, and such amounts shall remain

19 available until expended.’’.

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