IIA
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3445
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
NOVEMBER 16 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works
AN ACT
To improve hazard mitigation and relocation assistance in
connection with flooding, to provide for a comprehensive
review and assessment of the adequacy of current flood
control policies and measures, 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 ‘‘Hazard Mitigation and
Flood Damage Reduction Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. HAZARD MITIGATION.
(a) FEDERAL SHARE.—Section 404 of The Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
(42 U.S.C. 5170c) is amended by striking ‘‘50 percent’’
and inserting ‘‘75 percent’’.
(b) TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 404 of such
Act is further amended by striking ‘‘10 percent’’ and all
that follows through the period and inserting ‘‘15 percent
of the estimated aggregate amounts of grants to be made
under this Act (less administrative costs) with respect to
such major disaster.’’.
(c) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this
section shall apply to any major disaster declared on or
after June 10, 1993.
SEC. 3. PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND RELOCATION ASSIST-
ANCE.
Section 404 of The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c) is
further amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before
‘‘The President’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(b) PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND RELOCATION AS-
SISTANCE.—
‘‘(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—In providing haz-
ard mitigation assistance under this section in con-
nection with flooding, the Director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency may provide prop-
erty acquisition and relocation assistance for
projects which meet the requirements of paragraph
(2).
‘‘(2) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—An acquisition
or relocation project shall be eligible for funding
pursuant to paragraph (1) only if—
‘‘(A) the recipient of such funding is an
applicant otherwise eligible under the hazard
mitigation grant program established under
subsection (a); and
‘‘(B) the recipient of such funding enters
into an agreement with the Director under
which the recipient provides assurances that—
‘‘(i) properties acquired, accepted, or
from which structures will be removed
under the project will be dedicated and
maintained in perpetuity to uses which are
compatible with open space, recreational,
or wetlands management practices;
‘‘(ii) new structures will not be erect-
ed in designated special flood hazard areas
other than (I) public facilities which are
open on all sides and functionally related
to a designated open space, (II) rest
rooms, and (III) structures which are ap-
proved in writing before the start of con-
struction by the Director; and
‘‘(iii) no future disaster assistance for
damages relating to flooding will be sought
from or provided by any Federal source for
any property acquired or accepted under
the acquisition or relocation project.’’.
SEC. 4. FLOOD CONTROL AND FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT
POLICIES.
(a) STUDIES.—The Secretary of the Army shall con-
duct studies to assess national flood control and floodplain
management policies.
(b) CONTENTS.—The studies conducted under this
section shall—
(1) identify critical water, sewer, transpor-
tation, and other essential public facilities which cur-
rently face unacceptable flood risks;
(2) identify high priority industrial, petrochemi-
cal, hazardous waste, and other facilities which re-
quire additional flood protection due to the special
health and safety risks caused by flooding;
(3) evaluate current Federal, State, and local
floodplain management requirements for infrastruc-
ture improvements and other development in the
floodplain and recommend changes to reduce the po-
tential loss of life, property damage, economic losses,
and threats to health and safety caused by flooding;
(4) assess the adequacy and consistency of ex-
isting policies on nonstructural flood control and
damage prevention measures and, where appro-
priate, identify incentives and opportunities for
greater use of such nonstructural measures;
(5) identify incentives and opportunities for en-
vironmental restoration as a component of the Na-
tion’s flood control and floodplain management poli-
cies;
(6) examine the differences in Federal cost-
sharing for construction and maintenance of flood
control projects on the Upper and Lower Mississippi
River systems and assess the effect of such dif-
ferences on the level of flood protection on the
Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries; and
(7) assess current Federal policies on pre-event
repair and maintenance of both Federal and non-
Federal levees and recommend Federal and non-
Federal actions to help prevent the failure of these
levees during flooding.
(c) CONSULTATION.—In conducting studies under
this section, the Secretary of the Army shall consult the
heads of appropriate Federal agencies, representatives of
State and local governments, the agricultural community,
the inland waterways transportation industry, environ-
mental organizations, recreational interests, experts in
river hydrology and floodplain management, other busi-
ness and commercial interests, and other appropriate per-
sons.
(d) REPORT.—Not later than June 30, 1995, the
Secretary of the Army shall transmit to Congress a report
on the results of the studies conducted under this section.
SEC. 5. FLOOD CONTROL MEASURES ON UPPER MIS-
SISSIPPI AND LOWER MISSOURI RIVERS AND
THEIR TRIBUTARIES.
(a) STUDIES.—The Secretary of the Army shall con-
duct studies of the Upper Mississippi River and Lower
Missouri River and their tributaries to identify potential
solutions to flooding problems in such areas and to rec-
ommend specific water resources projects that would re-
sult in economically and environmentally justified flood
damage reduction measures in such areas.
(b) CONTENTS.—The studies conducted under this
section shall—
(1) reflect public input;
(2) include establishment of baseline conditions
to allow for a full assessment of economic and envi-
ronmental costs and benefits associated with flood
damage reduction projects and changes in land use
patterns;
(3) identify options for development of com-
prehensive solutions for improved long-term flood
plain management;
(4) identify feasibility studies of specific
projects or programs that are likely to improve flood
damage reduction capabilities;
(5) assess the impact of the current system of
levees and flood control projects and current water-
shed management and land use practices on the
flood levels experienced on the Upper Mississippi
River and Lower Missouri River and their tribu-
taries in 1993 and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of
a full range of alternative flood damage reduction
measures, including structural and nonstructural
measures, such as the preservation and restoration
of wetlands;
(6) recommend flood control improvements and
other flood damage reduction measures to reduce
economic losses, damage to public facilities, and the
release of hazardous materials from industrial, pet-
rochemical, hazardous waste, and other facilities
caused by flooding of the Upper Mississippi River
and Lower Missouri River and their tributaries; and
(7) assess the environmental impact of current
flood control measures and the flood control im-
provements recommended under this section.
(c) CONSULTATION.—In conducting studies under
this section, the Secretary of the Army shall consult the
heads of other Federal agencies with water resources and
floodplain management responsibilities.
(d) REPORT.—Not later than June 30, 1995, the
Secretary of the Army shall transmit to Congress a report
on the results of the studies conducted under this section.
SEC. 6. EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
Section 5(a)(1) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act authoriz-
ing construction of certain public works on rivers and har-
bors for flood control, and for other purposes’’, approved
August 18, 1941 (33 U.S.C. 701n(a)(1)), is amended by
inserting before the first semicolon the following: ‘‘, or in
implementation of nonstructural alternatives to the repair
or restoration of such flood control work if requested by
the non-Federal sponsor’’.
SEC. 7. TREATMENT OF REAL PROPERTY BUYOUT PRO-
GRAMS.
(a) INAPPLICABILITY OF URA.—The purchase of any
real property under a qualified buyout program shall not
constitute the making of Federal financial assistance
available to pay all or part of the cost of a program or
project resulting in the acquisition of real property or in
any owner of real property being a displaced person (with-
in the meaning of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and
Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970).
(b) DEFINITION
OF ‘‘QUALIFIED BUYOUT PRO-
GRAM’’.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘qualified
buyout program’’ means any program that—
(1) provides for the purchase of only property
damaged by the major, widespread flooding in the
Midwest during 1993;
(2) provides for such purchase solely as a result
of such flooding;
(3) provides for such acquisition without the
use of the power of eminent domain and notification
to the seller that acquisition is without the use of
such power;
(4) is carried out by or through a State or a
unit of general local government; and
(5) is being assisted with amounts made avail-
able for—
(A) disaster relief by the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency; or
(B) other Federal financial assistance pro-
grams.
Passed the House of Representatives November 15,
1993.
Attest:
DONNALD K. ANDERSON,
Clerk.