Repeatedly Flooded Communities Preparation Act

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure community accountability for areas repetitively damaged by floods, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Repeatedly Flooded Communities Preparation Act 2. Community accountability for repetitively flooded areas (a) In general Section 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 ( 42 U.S.C. 4102 (e) Community accountability for repetitively damaged areas (1) In general The Administrator shall, by regulation, require any covered community (as such term is defined in paragraph (5))— (A) to identify the areas within the community where properties described in paragraph (5)(B) or flood-damaged facilities are located to determine areas repeatedly damaged by floods and to assess, with assistance from the Administrator, the continuing risks to such areas; (B) to develop a community-specific plan for mitigating continuing flood risks to such repetitively flooded areas and to submit such plan and plan updates to the Administrator at appropriate intervals; (C) to implement such plans; (D) to make such plan, plan updates, and reports on progress in reducing flood risk available to the public, subject to section 552a of title 5, United States Code. (2) Incorporation into existing plans Plans developed pursuant to paragraph (1) may be incorporated into mitigation plans developed under section 1366 of this Act ( 42 U.S.C. 4104c 42 U.S.C. 5165 (3) Assistance to communities (A) Data To assist communities in preparation of plans required under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall, upon request, provide covered communities with appropriate data regarding the property addresses and dates of claims associated with insured properties within the community. (B) Mitigation grants In making determinations regarding financial assistance under the authorities of this Act, the Administrator may consider the extent to which a community has complied with this subsection and is working to remedy problems with addressing repeatedly flooded areas. (4) Sanctions (A) In general The Administrator shall, by regulations issued in accordance with the procedures established under section 553 of title 5, United States Code, regarding substantive rules, provide appropriate sanctions for covered communities that fail to comply with the requirements under this subsection or to make sufficient progress in reducing the flood risks to areas in the community that are repeatedly damaged by floods. (B) Notice Before imposing any sanction pursuant to this paragraph, the Administrator shall provide the covered community involved with notice of the non-compliance that could result in the imposition of sanctions, which shall include recommendations for actions to bring the covered community into compliance. (C) Considerations In determining appropriate sanctions to impose under this paragraph, the Administrator shall consider the resources available to the covered community involved, including Federal funding, the portion of the covered community that lies within an area having special flood hazards, and other factors that make it difficult for the covered community to conduct mitigation activities for existing flood-prone structures. (5) Covered community For purposes of this subsection, the term covered community (A) that is participating, pursuant to section 1315, in the national flood insurance program; and (B) within which are located— (i) 50 or more repetitive loss structures for each of which, during any 10-year period, two or more claims for payments under flood insurance coverage have been made with a cumulative amount exceeding $1,000; (ii) 5 or more severe repetitive loss structures (as such term is defined in section 1366(h)) for which mitigation activities meeting the standards for approval under section 1366(c)(2)(A) have not been conducted; or (iii) a public facility or a private nonprofit facility (as such terms are as defined in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5122 42 U.S.C. 5172 (6) Repetitive-loss structure For purposes of this subsection, the term repetitive loss structure 42 U.S.C. 4121 (7) Reports to congress Not later than the expiration of the 6-year period beginning upon the date of the enactment of this subsection, and not less than every 2 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit a report to the Congress regarding the progress in implementing plans developed pursuant to paragraph (1)(B). . (b) Regulations The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue regulations necessary to carry out subsection (e) of section 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as added by the amendment made by subsection (a) of this section, not later than the expiration of the 12-month period that begins on the date of the enactment of this Act. 3. Monthly installment payment of premiums (a) Authority Subsection (g) of section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 ( 42 U.S.C. 4015(g) (1) by striking the subsection designation and all that follows through With respect (g) Frequency of premium collection (1) Options With respect ; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (2) Monthly installment payment of premiums (A) Exemption from rulemaking Until such time as the Administrator promulgates regulations implementing paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Administrator may adopt policies and procedures, notwithstanding any other provisions of law and in alignment and consistent with existing industry escrow and servicing standards, necessary to implement such paragraph without undergoing notice and comment rulemaking and without conducting regulatory analyses otherwise required by statute, regulation, or Executive order. (B) Pilot program The Administrator may initially implement paragraph (1) of this subsection as a pilot program that provides for a gradual phase-in of implementation. (C) Policyholder protection The Administrator may— (i) during the 12-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this subparagraph, charge policyholders choosing to pay premiums in monthly installments a fee for the total cost of the monthly collection of premiums not to exceed $25 annually; and (ii) after the expiration of the 12-month period referred to in clause (i), adjust the fee charged annually to cover the total cost of the monthly collection of premiums as determined by the report submitted pursuant to subparagraph (D). (D) Report Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, that sets forth all of the costs associated with the monthly payment of premiums, including any up-front costs associated with infrastructure development, the impact on all policyholders including those that exercise the option to pay monthly and those that do not, options for minimizing the costs, particularly the costs to policyholders, and the feasibility of adopting practices that serve to minimize costs to policyholders such as automatic payments and electronic payments. (E) Annual Reports On an annual basis, the Administrator shall report to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate the ongoing costs associated with the monthly payment of premiums. . (b) Implementation Clause (ii) of section 1307(a)(1)(B) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 ( 42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(1)(B)(ii) any administrative expenses the costs associated with the monthly collection of premiums provided for in section 1308(g) ( 42 U.S.C. 4015(g) August 15, 2017 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

Summary: Repeatedly Flooded Communities Preparation Act (Sec. 2) This bill amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to require a community that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and has been repeatedly flooded to: (1) assess the continuing risks to community areas repeatedly damaged by floods; and (2) develop and implement a publicly available, community-specific plan for mitigating continuing flood risks to such areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must, upon request, provide a community with data to assist in preparation of the required plan. In making decisions with respect to awarding mitigation grants under the Act, FEMA may consider the extent to which a community has complied with these requirements and is working to remedy problems with repeatedly flooded areas. A community that does not comply with these requirements shall be subject to sanctions. (Sec. 3) FEMA's implementation of monthly premium payment schedules is exempted from rulemaking. FEMA may implement this schedule as a pilot program.