‘‘(4) REPORTS COVERED.—For purposes of this 
subsection, the term ‘final engineering report’ means 
an engineering report, survey, or other document in 
connection with such claim that— 
‘‘(A) is based on such on-site inspection; 
‘‘(B) contains final conclusions with re-
spect to an engineering issue or issues involved 
in such claim; and 
‘‘(C) is signed by the responsible in charge 
or affixed with the seal of such responsible in 
charge, or both. 
‘‘(e) CLAIMS ADJUSTMENT REPORTS.—The Adminis-
trator shall require that, in the case of any on-site inspec-
tion of a property by a claims adjustor for the purpose 
of assessing any claim for losses covered by a policy for 
flood insurance coverage provided under this title, any re-
port shall be provided to the insured under the policy, as 
follows: 
‘‘(1) TIMING.—Such report may not be trans-
mitted to any other person, employer, agency, or en-
tity, before it is transmitted to the insured. 
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON ALTERATIONS; CERTIFI-
CATION.—The report may not include alterations by, 
or at the request of, anyone other than such pre-
parer and shall include a certification, signed by the 
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preparer of the report, that it does not contain any 
such alterations. 
‘‘(3) TRANSMITTAL.—The report shall be trans-
mitted to the insured in a manner as the Adminis-
trator shall provide that provides reasonable assur-
ance that it was transmitted directly to the insured 
by the preparer. 
‘‘(4) REPORTS COVERED.—For purposes of this 
subsection, the term ‘report’ means any report or 
document in connection with such claim that is 
based on such on-site inspection by the claims adjus-
tor, including any adjustment report and field re-
port. Such term also includes any draft, preliminary 
version, or copy of any such report and any amend-
ments or additions to any such report. Such term 
does not include any engineering report, as such 
term is defined for purposes of subsection (d). 
‘‘(f) OTHER CLAIM-RELATED DOCUMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITION
OF
CLAIM-RELATED
DOCU-
MENT.—In this subsection, the term ‘claim-related 
document’ means any document, other than a final 
engineering report (as defined in subsection (d)) or 
a report (as defined in subsection (e)), that was pre-
pared for the purposes of assessing a claim for 
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losses covered by flood insurance made available 
under this title, including— 
‘‘(A) a repair and replacement estimate or 
bid; 
‘‘(B) an appraisal; 
‘‘(C) a scope of loss; 
‘‘(D) a drawing; 
‘‘(E) a plan; 
‘‘(F) a report, including a draft report pre-
pared based on an on-site inspection of a prop-
erty conducted by a claims adjustor or engineer; 
‘‘(G) a third-party finding on the amount 
of loss, amount of covered damage, or cost of 
repairs; and 
‘‘(H) any other valuation, measurement, or 
loss adjustment calculation of the amount of 
loss, amount of covered damage, or cost of re-
pairs. 
‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENTS.—Any enti-
ty servicing a claim under the national flood insur-
ance program— 
‘‘(A) shall retain each claim-related docu-
ment prepared by or for the entity; 
‘‘(B) upon request by a claimant or an au-
thorized representative of a claimant, shall pro-
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vide to the claimant or representative a copy of 
any claim-related document described in sub-
paragraph (A) that pertains to the claimant; 
and 
‘‘(C) not later than 30 days after receiving 
notice of a claim, shall notify the claimant that 
the claimant or an authorized representative of 
the claimant may obtain, upon request, a copy 
of any claim-related document described in sub-
paragraph (A) that pertains to the claimant.’’. 
(b) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 
(1) GOVERNMENT
PROGRAM
WITH
INDUSTRY 
ASSISTANCE.—Section 1341 of the National Flood 
Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4072) is amended 
by striking ‘‘within one year after the date of mail-
ing of notice of disallowance or partial disallowance 
by the Administrator’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘not later than the expiration of the 2-year period 
beginning upon the date of the occurrence of the 
losses involved in such claim or, in the case of a de-
nial of a claim for losses that is appealed to the Ad-
ministrator, not later than (1) the expiration of the 
90-day period beginning upon the date of a final de-
termination upon appeal denying such claim in 
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whole or in part, or (2) the expiration of such 2-year 
period, whichever is later’’. 
(2) INDUSTRY PROGRAM WITH FEDERAL FINAN-
CIAL
ASSISTANCE.—Section 1333 of the National 
Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4053) is 
amended by striking ‘‘within one year after the date 
of mailing of notice of disallowance or partial dis-
allowance of the claim’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘not later than the expiration of the 2-year period 
beginning upon the date of the occurrence of the 
losses involved in such claim or, in the case of a de-
nial of a claim for losses that is appealed to the Ad-
ministrator, not later than (1) the expiration of the 
90-day period beginning upon the date of a final de-
termination upon appeal denying such claim in 
whole or in part, or (2) the expiration of such 2-year 
period, whichever is later’’. 
(c) FLOOD INSURANCE ADVOCATE.—Section 24(b) of 
the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 
(42 U.S.C. 4033(b)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(6) provide a direct point of contact for policy-
holders under the National Flood Insurance Pro-
gram to discuss the status of their claim appeals 
and the basis of the decision to initially deny their 
claims.’’. 
(d) RECORDS AND REVIEWS.—Section 1348 of the 
National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4084) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) ANNUAL REVIEW.—The Administrator shall 
conduct an annual review of each private entity partici-
pating in the national flood insurance program, including 
any company that has entered into a contract with a Write 
Your Own insurance company to provide any service re-
lated to a policy or claim under the national flood insur-
ance program, including adjusting, engineering, and legal 
services, to ensure compliance with this title and with all 
policies and procedures established by the Administrator 
to prevent fraud and protect policyholders.’’. 
(e) PUBLICATION OF CLAIMS DATA.—Section 1312 
of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
4019), as amended by subsection (a) of this section, is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(g) PUBLICATION
OF CLAIMS DATA.—Not later 
than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Flood In-
surance Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015, the 
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Administrator shall create and maintain a publically 
searchable online database that includes, with respect to 
claims filed under the national flood insurance program 
after that date of enactment— 
‘‘(1) the number of claims filed each month, 
broken down by State; 
‘‘(2) the number of claims paid in part or in 
full; 
‘‘(3) the number of claims denied and the rea-
sons cited for each denial; and 
‘‘(4) the number of claim denials appealed, the 
number of claim denials upheld on appeal, and the 
number of claim denials overturned on appeal.’’. 
(f) ENGINEERING AND LITIGATION COSTS.—Section 
1311 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 
U.S.C. 4018) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(c) ENGINEERING AND LITIGATION COSTS.—The 
Administrator shall— 
‘‘(1) in order to ensure that taxpayer funds are 
being appropriately expended, establish clear guide-
lines and standards to require that any engineering 
or litigation cost billed to the national flood insur-
ance program by a Write Your Own insurance com-
pany is justified on a case-by-case basis, both by the 
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entity that originally incurs the cost and by the 
Write Your Own Company; and 
‘‘(2) enforce compliance with the guidelines and 
standards established under paragraph (1).’’. 
(g) EARTH MOVEMENT.—Section 1306 of the Na-
tional Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4013) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) EARTH MOVEMENT.—A flood insurance claim 
filed under this title for damage to or loss of property shall 
not be denied based on the earth movement exclusion in 
the Standard Flood Insurance Policy if the claim is filed 
as the result of a flood, including a claim for damage to 
or loss or property caused by earth movement that was 
caused by a flood.’’. 
(h) APPEALS PROCESS.—Section 205 of the Bun-
ning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act 
of 2004 (42 U.S.C. 4011 note) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Not later than’’ and inserting 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) REVIEW OF APPEALS.— 
‘‘(1) CLARITY.—The Director shall ensure that 
the appeals process established under subsection (a) 
has clear rules, forms, and deadlines. 
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‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION UPON INITIAL DENIAL OF 
CLAIM.—The Director shall ensure that a claimant 
is provided with the rules, forms, and deadlines de-
scribed in paragraph (1) at the time a claim is first 
denied in full or in part, including— 
‘‘(A) the effective date of the denial; 
‘‘(B) a justification for the denial, includ-
ing supporting documentation; 
‘‘(C) the date on which the period of limi-
tation for instituting an action against the Ad-
ministrator on the claim under section 1341 
will end; and 
‘‘(D) a point of contact through which the 
claimant can directly discuss an appeal with a 
representative of the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency. 
‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION
UPON
DENIAL
OF
AP-
PEAL.—If the Administrator denies an appeal filed 
by a policyholder, the Administrator shall include 
with the notice of denial an explanation of the pol-
icyholder’s legal options for further challenging the 
denial.’’. 
(i) DEFINITION
OF WRITE YOUR OWN.—Section 
1370(a) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 
U.S.C. 4121(a)) is amended— 
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(1) in paragraph (14), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in paragraph (15), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(16) the term ‘Write Your Own’ means the co-
operative undertaking between the insurance indus-
try and the Federal Insurance Administration which 
allows participating property and casualty insurance 
companies to write and service standard flood insur-
ance policies.’’. 
SEC. 3. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘National Flood Insurance Pro-
gram’’ means the program established under the Na-
tional Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 
et seq.); 
(2) the term ‘‘Task Force’’ means the National 
Flood Insurance Program Transformation Task 
Force established by the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency; and 
(3) the term ‘‘Write Your Own’’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 1370(a) of the Na-
tional Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
4121(a)), as amended by section 2(i) of this Act. 
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(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ACCOUNTABILITY FOR 
DEFRAUDING POLICYHOLDERS.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall submit to Congress a report on 
specific actions the Department of Homeland Security will 
take to identify individuals and private entities that have 
engaged in activities to defraud policyholders under the 
National Flood Insurance Program following Superstorm 
Sandy and prevent those individuals and private entities 
from continuing to receive Federal funding through— 
(1) contracts with, or employment by, a Write 
Your Own insurance company; or 
(2) employment by the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON RECOMMENDATIONS 
OF
THE NFIP TRANSFORMATION TASK FORCE.—Not 
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency shall submit to Congress a report that describes— 
(1) the recommendations of the Task Force for 
reforming the National Flood Insurance Program; 
(2) a timeline for implementing the rec-
ommendations of the Task Force; and 
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(3) any recommendations of the Task Force 
that require additional legislation. 
Æ 
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