I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2901 
To amend the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to require that certain 
buildings and personal property be covered by flood insurance, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 25, 2015 
Mr. ROSS (for himself and Mr. MURPHY of Florida) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to 
require that certain buildings and personal property be 
covered by flood insurance, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Flood Insurance Mar-
ket Parity and Modernization Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PRIVATE FLOOD INSURANCE. 
(a) MANDATORY PURCHASE REQUIREMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Flood 
Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a) 
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is amended by striking ‘‘Sec. 102. (a)’’ and all that 
follows through subsection (b) and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘SEC. 102. (a) After the expiration of sixty days fol-
lowing the date of enactment of this Act, no Federal offi-
cer or agency shall approve any financial assistance for 
acquisition or construction purposes for use in any area 
that has been identified by the Administrator as an area 
having special flood hazards and in which the sale of flood 
insurance has been made available under the National 
Flood Insurance Act of 1968, unless the building or mo-
bile home and any personal property to which such finan-
cial assistance relates is covered by flood insurance: Pro-
vided, That the amount of flood insurance (1) in the case 
of Federal flood insurance, is at least equal to the develop-
ment or project cost of the building, mobile home, or per-
sonal property (less estimated land cost), the outstanding 
principal balance of the loan, or the maximum limit of 
Federal flood insurance coverage made available with re-
spect to the particular type of property, whichever is less; 
or (2) in the case of private flood insurance, is at least 
equal to the development or project cost of the building, 
mobile home, or personal property (less estimated land 
cost), the outstanding principal balance of the loan, or the 
maximum limit of Federal flood insurance coverage made 
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available with respect to the particular property, whichever 
is less: Provided further, That if the financial assistance 
provided is in the form of a loan or an insurance or guar-
anty of a loan, the amount of flood insurance required 
need not exceed the outstanding principal balance of the 
loan and need not be required beyond the term of the loan. 
The requirement of maintaining flood insurance shall 
apply during the life of the property, regardless of transfer 
of ownership of such property. 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT FOR MORTGAGE LOANS.— 
‘‘(1) REGULATED
LENDING
INSTITUTIONS.— 
Each Federal entity for lending regulation (after 
consultation and coordination with the Financial In-
stitutions Examination Council established under the 
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council 
Act of 1974) shall by regulation direct regulated 
lending institutions not to make, increase, extend, or 
renew any loan secured by improved real estate or 
a mobile home located or to be located in an area 
that has been identified by the Administrator as an 
area having special flood hazards and in which flood 
insurance has been made available under the Na-
tional Flood Insurance Act of 1968, unless the 
building or mobile home and any personal property 
securing such loan is covered for the term of the 
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loan by flood insurance: Provided, That the amount 
of flood insurance (A) in the case of Federal flood 
insurance, is at least equal to the outstanding prin-
cipal balance of the loan or the maximum limit of 
Federal flood insurance coverage made available 
with respect to the particular type of property, 
whichever is less; or (B) in the case of private flood 
insurance, is at least equal to the outstanding prin-
cipal balance of the loan or the maximum limit of 
Federal flood insurance coverage made available 
with respect to the particular type of property, 
whichever is less. 
‘‘(2) FEDERAL AGENCY LENDERS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A Federal agency 
lender may not make, increase, extend, or 
renew any loan secured by improved real estate 
or a mobile home located or to be located in an 
area that has been identified by the Adminis-
trator as an area having special flood hazards 
and in which flood insurance has been made 
available under the National Flood Insurance 
Act of 1968, unless the building or mobile home 
and any personal property securing such loan is 
covered for the term of the loan by flood insur-
ance in accordance with paragraph (1). Each 
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Federal agency lender may issue any regula-
tions necessary to carry out this paragraph. 
Such regulations shall be consistent with and 
substantially identical to the regulations issued 
under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT TO ACCEPT FLOOD IN-
SURANCE.—Each Federal agency lender shall 
accept flood insurance as satisfaction of the 
flood insurance coverage requirement under 
subparagraph (A) if the flood insurance cov-
erage meets the requirements for coverage 
under that subparagraph. 
‘‘(3) GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED
ENTERPRISES 
FOR HOUSING.—The Federal National Mortgage As-
sociation and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 
Corporation shall implement procedures reasonably 
designed to ensure that, for any loan that is— 
‘‘(A) secured by improved real estate or a 
mobile home located in an area that has been 
identified, at the time of the origination of the 
loan or at any time during the term of the loan, 
by the Administrator as an area having special 
flood hazards and in which flood insurance is 
available under the National Flood Insurance 
Act of 1968, and 
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‘‘(B) purchased by such entity, 
the building or mobile home and any personal prop-
erty securing the loan is covered for the term of the 
loan by flood insurance in the amount provided in 
paragraph (1). The Federal National Mortgage As-
sociation and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 
Corporation shall accept flood insurance as satisfac-
tion of the flood insurance coverage requirement 
under paragraph (1) if the flood insurance coverage 
provided meets the requirements for coverage under 
that paragraph. 
‘‘(4) APPLICABILITY.— 
‘‘(A) EXISTING
COVERAGE.—Except as 
provided in subparagraph (B), paragraph (1) 
shall apply on the date of enactment of the Rie-
gle Community Development and Regulatory 
Improvement Act of 1994. 
‘‘(B) NEW
COVERAGE.—Paragraphs (2) 
and (3) shall apply only with respect to any 
loan made, increased, extended, or renewed 
after the expiration of the 1-year period begin-
ning on the date of enactment of the Riegle 
Community Development and Regulatory Im-
provement Act of 1994. Paragraph (1) shall 
apply with respect to any loan made, increased, 
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extended, or renewed by any lender supervised 
by the Farm Credit Administration only after 
the expiration of the period under this subpara-
graph. 
‘‘(C) CONTINUED
EFFECT
OF
REGULA-
TIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 
this subsection, the regulations to carry out 
paragraph (1), as in effect immediately before 
the date of enactment of the Riegle Community 
Development and Regulatory Improvement Act 
of 1994, shall continue to apply until the regu-
lations issued to carry out paragraph (1) as 
amended by section 522(a) of such Act take ef-
fect. 
‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Except as oth-
erwise specified, any reference to flood insurance in 
this section shall be considered to include Federal 
flood insurance and private flood insurance. 
‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.— 
‘‘(A) FLOOD INSURANCE.—In this section, 
the term ‘flood insurance’ means— 
‘‘(i) Federal flood insurance; and 
‘‘(ii) private flood insurance. 
‘‘(B) OTHER
DEFINITIONS.—In this sec-
tion— 
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‘‘(i) the term ‘Federal flood insurance’ 
means an insurance policy made available 
under the National Flood Insurance Act of 
1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.); 
‘‘(ii) the term ‘private flood insurance’ 
means an insurance policy that— 
‘‘(I) is issued by an insurance 
company that is— 
‘‘(aa) licensed, admitted, or 
otherwise approved to engage in 
the business of insurance in the 
State in which the insured build-
ing is located, by the insurance 
regulator of that State; or 
‘‘(bb) eligible as a non-
admitted insurer to provide in-
surance in the home State of the 
insured, in accordance with sec-
tions 521 through 527 of the 
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 
and Consumer Protection Act 
(15 U.S.C. 8201 through 8206); 
‘‘(II) is issued by an insurance 
company that is not otherwise dis-
approved as a surplus lines insurer by 
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the insurance regulator of the State in 
which the property to be insured is lo-
cated; and 
‘‘(III) provides flood insurance 
coverage that complies with the laws 
and regulations of that State; and 
‘‘(iii) the term ‘State’ means any 
State of the United States, the District of 
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, the Virgin Islands, and American 
Samoa.’’. 
(2) TECHNICAL
AND
CONFORMING
AMEND-
MENT.—Section 1364(a)(3)(C) of the National 
Flood 
Insurance 
Act 
of 
1968 
(42 
U.S.C. 
4104a(a)(3)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘, as re-
quired under section 102(b)(6) of the Flood Disaster 
Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(6))’’. 
(b) EFFECT OF PRIVATE FLOOD INSURANCE COV-
ERAGE ON CONTINUOUS COVERAGE REQUIREMENTS.— 
Section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 
(42 U.S.C. 4015) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(n) EFFECT OF PRIVATE FLOOD INSURANCE COV-
ERAGE ON CONTINUOUS COVERAGE REQUIREMENTS.— 
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For purposes of applying any statutory, regulatory, or ad-
ministrative continuous coverage requirement, including 
under section 1307(g)(1), the Administrator shall consider 
any period during which a property was continuously cov-
ered by private flood insurance (as defined in section 
102(b)(6) of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 
(42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(6))) to be a period of continuous cov-
erage.’’. 
Æ 
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