I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3161 

To establish a pilot program to enhance the mapping of urban flooding 

and associated property damage and the availability of such mapped 

data to homeowners, businesses, and localities to help understand and 

mitigate the risk of such flooding, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 12, 2021 

Mr. QUIGLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish a pilot program to enhance the mapping of 

urban flooding and associated property damage and the 

availability of such mapped data to homeowners, businesses, and localities to help understand and mitigate 

the risk of such flooding, 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 Mapping Mod5 ernization and Homeowner Empowerment Pilot Program 

6 Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FLOOD MAPPING MODERNIZATION AND HOME2 OWNER EMPOWERMENT PILOT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 

4 Emergency Management Agency shall carry out a pilot 

5 program to make grants to units of local government to 

6 enhance the mapping of urban flooding and associated 

7 property damage and the availability of such mapped data 

8 to homeowners, businesses, and units of local government 

9 to enable them to minimize the risk of such flooding. 

10 (b) OBJECTIVES.—Amounts from grants made under 

11 the pilot program under this section may be used only to 

12 carry out activities to meet the following objectives: 

13 (1) To develop a methodology for assessing 

14 urban flood risk through the deployment of tech15 nology-based mapping tools that are easily under16 standable by the public and effectively convey infor17 mation regarding the level of flood risk. 

18 (2) To provide structure-specific projections of 

19 annual chance flood frequency. 

20 (3) To provide structure-based flood-risk assess21 ments. 

22 (4) To provide urban flood-risk mitigation pro23 gram design. 

24 (5) To incorporate information regarding cli25 mate trends into urban flooding risk assessments. 


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1 (6) To make the information described in this 

2 subsection publicly available on the internet through 

3 a web-based portal so as to increase transparency re4 garding homeowner flood risks. 

5 (c) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Grants under the pilot pro7 gram under this section may be made only to units 

8 of general local government located in a urbanized 

9 areas, as such term is used by the Bureau of the 

10 Census of the Department of Commerce, having 

11 populations exceeding 50,000 or to stormwater man12 agement authorities of such units of general local 

13 government. 

14 (2) ONE-TIME GRANTS.—A grant under the 

15 pilot program under this section may not be made 

16 to— 

17 (A) any unit of general local governmental, 

18 or stormwater management authority of a unit 

19 of general government, that has previously re20 ceived a grant under the pilot program; 

21 (B) any unit of general local government if 

22 the stormwater management agency for such 

23 unit has previously received a grant under the 

24 pilot program; or 


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1 (C) any stormwater management agency of 

2 a unit of general local government if such unit 

3 has previously received a grant under the pilot 

4 program. 

5 (3) TREATMENT OF STORMWATER MANAGE6 MENT AUTHORITIES.—In the case of a stormwater 

7 management authority that operates with respect to 

8 more than one unit of general local government, the 

9 application of such authority shall be considered for 

10 purposes of paragraph (2) of this subsection and 

11 subsections (e), (f), and (g)(1) to be made for the 

12 largest unit of general local government for which 

13 such authority operates. The preceding sentence 

14 shall not limit the ability of such authority to carry 

15 out activities under the demonstration project in any 

16 other jurisdictions or unit of local government with 

17 respect to which the authority operates. 

18 (d) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible for a grant under 

19 this section a unit of general local government or stormwa20 ter management agency shall submit to the Administrator 

21 an application in such form and containing such informa22 tion as the Administrator shall require. 

23 (e) SELECTION OF RECIPIENTS.— 

24 (1) ANNUAL SELECTION.—Subject to para25 graph (2) and to the submission of approvable appliVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3161.IH H3161

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1 cations, in each fiscal year for which amounts are 

2 made available for grants under the pilot program 

3 under this section the Administrator shall select, 

4 from among applications submitted under subsection 

5 (d) for such fiscal year, 3 units of general govern6 ment or stormwater management authorities to re7 ceive grants under the pilot program under this sec8 tion. 

9 (2) AGGREGATE LIMIT.—Subject only to the 

10 submission of approvable applications, the Adminis11 trator shall select, in the aggregate over the entire 

12 duration of the pilot program under this section, 12 

13 units of general government or stormwater manage14 ment authorities to receive grants under the pilot 

15 program, as follows: 

16 (A) TIER 1.—Three of the applicants se17 lected shall be units of general local govern18 ment, or stormwater management authorities 

19 for such units, having a population exceeding 

20 800,000, as follows: 

21 (i) PELAGIC COASTAL CITY.—One 

22 shall be a unit of general local government, 

23 or stormwater authority for such a unit, 

24 that is a pelagic unit. 


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1 (ii) NON-PELAGIC COASTAL CITY.— 

2 One shall be unit of general local govern3 ment, or stormwater authority for such a 

4 unit, that is a coastal unit, but not a pe5 lagic unit. 

6 (iii) NON-COASTAL CITY.—One shall 

7 be unit of general local government, or 

8 stormwater authority for such a unit, that 

9 is not a coastal unit. 

10 (B) TIER 2.—Six of the applicants selected 

11 shall be units of general local government, or 

12 stormwater management authorities for such 

13 units, having a population exceeding 200,000 

14 but not exceeding 800,000, as follows: 

15 (i) COASTAL CITIES.—Three shall be 

16 units of general local government, or 

17 stormwater management authorities for 

18 such units, that are coastal units. 

19 (ii) NON-COASTAL CITIES.—Three 

20 shall be units of general local government, 

21 or stormwater management authorities for 

22 such units, that are not coastal units. 

23 (C) TIER 3.—Three of the applicants se24 lected shall be units of general local govern25 ment, or stormwater management authorities 


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1 for such units, having a population exceeding 

2 50,000 but not exceeding 200,000. 

3 (f) PRIORITY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall se5 lect applicants for grants under the pilot program 

6 under this section based on the extent to which their 

7 applications will achieve the objectives set forth in 

8 subsection (b). 

9 (2) TIERS 2 AND 3.—In selecting applicants to 

10 receive grants under the pilot program under this 

11 section pursuant to subparagraphs (B) and (C) of 

12 subsection (e)(2), the Administrator shall give pri13 ority to applicants— 

14 (A) that are highly vulnerable to sea level 

15 rise; 

16 (B) within which are located a military in17 stallation or other facility relating to national 

18 security concerns; or 

19 (C) that have a population that is highly 

20 vulnerable to urban flooding and have an un21 even capacity for flood mitigation and response 

22 efforts resulting from socioeconomic factors. 

23 (g) AMOUNT.— 

24 (1) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining the 

25 amount of grant under the pilot program under this 


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1 section, the Administrator shall consider the popu2 lation of the grant recipient, which may be consid3 ered in terms of the tier under subsection (e)(2) of 

4 the recipient. 

5 (2) FEDERAL SHARE.—The amount of a grant 

6 under the pilot program under this section may not 

7 exceed 75 percent of the total cost of the activities 

8 under subsection (b) to be carried out using the 

9 grant amounts. 

10 (h) DURATION.—The Administrator shall require 

11 each recipient of a grant under the pilot program under 

12 this section to complete the activities under subsection (b) 

13 to be carried out using the grant amounts before the expi14 ration of the 18-month period beginning upon the initial 

15 receipt of grant amounts under the pilot program. 

16 (i) USE OF CENSUS DATA.—The Administrator shall 

17 make all determinations under the pilot program regard18 ing population using the most recent available data from 

19 the decennial census. 

20 (j) GRANTEE REPORTS TO FEMA.—Each recipient 

21 of a grant under the pilot program under this section 

22 shall, not later than the expiration of the 30-month period 

23 beginning upon the initial receipt of any such grant 

24 amounts, submit to the Administrator a report that de25 scribes— 


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1 (1) the activities carried out with amounts from 

2 the grant; 

3 (2) how the activities carried out with such 

4 grant amounts have met the objectives described in 

5 subsection (b); and 

6 (3) any lessons learned in carrying out such ac7 tivities and any recommendations for future map8 ping modernization efforts by the Federal Emer9 gency Management Agency. 

10 (k) BIENNIAL REPORTS BY FEMA.—Not later than 

11 the expiration of the 24-month period beginning on the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, and not later than the 

13 expiration of each successive 24-month period thereafter 

14 until the completion of all activities carried out with 

15 amounts from grants under the pilot program under this 

16 section, the Administrator shall submit to the Congress 

17 and make available to the public on an internet website 

18 a report that— 

19 (1) describes— 

20 (A) the progress of the activities carried 

21 out with amounts from such grants; and 

22 (B) the effectiveness of technology-based 

23 mapping tools used in carrying out the activi24 ties described in subparagraph (A); and 


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1 (2) with respect to the final report that the Ad2 ministrator is required to submit under this sub3 section, includes recommendations to the Congress 

4 and the executive branch of the Federal Government 

5 for implementing strategies, practices, and tech6 nologies to mitigate the effects of urban flooding. 

7 (l) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 

8 that, because the pilot program is limited with respect to 

9 scope and resources, communities that participate in the 

10 pilot program should acknowledge that the most successful 

11 efforts to mitigate the effects of urban flooding— 

12 (1) take a structural-based mitigation approach 

13 with respect to construction, which includes— 

14 (A) recognizing any post-storm damage 

15 that may occur; and 

16 (B) pursuing designs that proactively mini17 mize future flood damage; 

18 (2) make individuals in the community aware, 

19 through any cost-effective and available means of 

20 education, of the best approaches regarding the con21 struction of properties that are able to survive 

22 floods, which reduces the cost of future repairs; and 

23 (3) encourage home and property owners to 

24 consider the measures described in paragraphs (1) 

25 and (2), which are the most cost-effective and pruVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3161.IH H3161

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1 dent ways to reduce the impact of flooding, when 

2 constructing or renovating building components. 

3 (m) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

4 following definitions shall apply: 

5 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis6 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 

7 Emergency Management Agency. 

8 (2) COASTAL.—The term ‘‘coastal’’ means, with 

9 respect to a unit of general local government, that 

10 the unit borders a body of water that— 

11 (A) exceeds 2,000 square miles in size; and 

12 (B) is not a river. 

13 (3) PELAGIC.—The term ‘‘pelagic’’ means, with 

14 respect to a unit of general local government, that 

15 the unit is a coastal unit and the body of water that 

16 the unit borders is an ocean or other large, open 

17 body of water (including bays and gulfs) that 

18 empties into an ocean. 

19 (4) URBAN FLOODING.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘urban flood21 ing’’ means the inundation of property in a 

22 built environment, particularly in more densely 

23 populated areas, caused either by falling rain 

24 collecting on impervious surfaces or increasing 

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1 whelming the capacity of drainage systems, 

2 such as storm sewers, including— 

3 (i) situations in which stormwater en4 ters buildings through windows, doors, or 

5 other openings; 

6 (ii) water backup through sewer pipes, 

7 showers, toilets, sinks, and floor drains; 

8 (iii) seepage through walls and floors; 

9 (iv) the accumulation of water on 

10 property or public rights-of-way; and 

11 (v) the overflow from water bodies, 

12 such as rivers, lakes, and oceans. 

13 (B) EXCLUSION.—Such term does not in14 clude flooding in undeveloped or agricultural 

15 areas. 

16 (n) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro17 priated for grants under the pilot program under this sec18 tion— 

19 (1) $1,200,000 for fiscal year 2022; and 

20 (2) $4,300,000 for fiscal year 2023, to remain 

21 available through 2025. 

Æ 


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