I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2873
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act to provide for an expanded Federal program of hazard mitigation,
relief, and insurance against the risk of catastrophic natural disasters,
such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 4, 1993
Mr. MINETA (for himself and Mr. BOEHLERT) introduced the following bill;
which was referred jointly to the Committees on Public Works and Trans-
portation and Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs
FEBRUARY 2, 1994
Additional sponsors: Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. SHAW, Mr.
BACCHUS of Florida, Mr. PORTER, Mr. QUILLEN, Mr. RAVENEL, Mr.
SUNDQUIST, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. MICA, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr.
UNDERWOOD, Mr. JOHNSTON of Florida, Mr. PETERSON of Florida, Mr.
HUTTO, Mr. CANADY, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. EWING,
Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. COOPER, Mr. BROWN of California,
Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr.
TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr. HOBSON, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON
of Texas, Mr. LAUGHLIN, Mr. FILNER, Mr. STARK, Mr. GORDON, Mr.
BILIRAKIS, Mr. LEWIS of Florida, Mr. CLINGER, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr.
LEVY, Mr. LEWIS of California, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. GENE GREEN of
Texas, Mr. SWIFT, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mrs.
LLOYD, Mr. BACHUS of Alabama, Mr. STENHOLM, Mrs. MEEK, Mr. DER-
RICK, Mr. MINGE, Mr. TANNER, Ms. DUNN, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. VOLK-
MER, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. TORRICELLI, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr.
CLYBURN, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. SWETT, Mr. FARR of California, Mr.
CLEMENT, Mr. SPENCE, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. BORSKI, Mrs. FOWLER,
Mr. WELDON, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. FOGLIETTA,
Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. FORD of Tennessee, Mr. HAYES, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr.
TUCKER, Mr. COSTELLO, and Mr. EDWARDS of California
HR 2873 SC
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to provide for an expanded Federal
program of hazard mitigation, relief, and insurance
against the risk of catastrophic natural disasters, such
as hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, 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 shall be cited as the ‘‘Natural Disaster Pro-
tection Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
Section 101 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121) is
amended as follows:
(a) In subsection (a), by—
(1) striking ‘‘and’’ in paragraph (1);
(2) inserting ‘‘and’’ following the semicolon in
paragraph (2);
(3) inserting the following new paragraph be-
fore ‘‘special measures’’:
‘‘(3) because catastrophic natural disasters,
such as major hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic
eruptions, pose particular problems in terms of sub-
stantial long-term consequences, ill-equipped pre-
HR 2873 SC
(6) inserting before the semicolon in paragraph
(5) ‘‘and the adoption and enforcement of multi-haz-
ard building codes, and improved first responder ca-
pabilities’’; and
(7) inserting after ‘‘disasters’’ in paragraph (6)
‘‘and a self-sustaining funding mechanism to help
States pay for hazard mitigation.’’.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
Section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122) is
amended as follows:
(a) In paragraph (7) add ‘‘the Federal National
Mortgage Association, and the Federal Home Loan Mort-
gage Corporation,’’ following ‘‘United State Postal Serv-
ice,’’.
(b) Add at the end the following new paragraphs:
‘‘(10) The term ‘critical facilities’ means
schools and structures essential to emergency serv-
ices necessary for post natural disaster recovery (in-
cluding hospitals, fire and police facilities, temporary
shelters, and emergency operating and preparedness
centers).
‘‘(11) The term ‘Director’ means the Director
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
HR 2873 SC
‘‘(12) The term ‘disaster-prone State’ means
any State determined by the Director pursuant to
section 701 to be a hurricane-prone, windstorm-
prone, earthquake-prone, volcanic eruption-prone, or
flood-prone State.
‘‘(13) The term ‘earthquake’ means any shak-
ing or trembling of the crust of the earth caused by
underground seismic forces or by breaking and shift-
ing of rock beneath the surface.
‘‘(14) The term ‘earthquake-prone State’ means
a State determined by the Director pursuant to sec-
tion 701 to have an exposure to the earthquake
peril.
‘‘(15) The term ‘Federal assistance’ means any
form of financial aid, including grants, loans, loan-
guarantees, subsidies, insurance, and payments, pro-
vided by a Federal agency.
‘‘(16) The term ‘first responder’ means those
fire fighting, police, and emergency medical person-
nel with the statutory authority to engage in and
provide immediate emergency response services.
‘‘(17) The term ‘flood’ or ‘flooding’ means a
general and temporary condition of partial or com-
plete inundation of normally dry land areas from the
overflow of inland or tidal waters or the unusual and
HR 2873 SC
rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from
any source.
‘‘(18) The term ‘flood-prone State’ means a
State determined by the Director pursuant to sec-
tion 701 to have an exposure to the flood peril.
‘‘(19) The term ‘hurricane’ means a non-fron-
tal, warm core, low pressure atmospheric system
having a definite organized circulation, including any
associated windstorm events occurring within 72
hours before and after the hurricane, with sustained
wind speeds of 74 miles per hour or greater and offi-
cially declared to be a hurricane by the National
Hurricane Center.
‘‘(20) The term ‘hurricane-prone State’ means
a State determined by the Director pursuant to sec-
tion 701 to have an exposure to the hurricane peril.
‘‘(21) The term ‘hurricane zone’ means an area
within a State identified by the Director as being
subject to major risk from the hurricane peril.
‘‘(22) The term ‘insurance industry’ means all
private insurers and private reinsurers.
‘‘(23) The term ‘lifelines’ means critical public
infrastructure, including highways, bridges, water
transportation and treatment facilities, electric
HR 2873 SC
transmission systems, pipelines, and telecommuni-
cations networks.
‘‘(24) The term ‘local community’ means a po-
litical subdivision of a State which has zoning and
building code jurisdiction over a particular area
which is exposed to the hurricane, windstrom, earth-
quake, volcanic-eruption, or flood peril.
‘‘(25) The term ‘multi-hazard coverage’ means
policies, riders, or endorsements of insurance issued
on Federal paper pursuant to subtitle A of title VIII
that provide indemnity, in whole or in part, for the
loss, destruction, or damage of residential property.
‘‘(26) The term ‘ordinance or law coverage’
means insurance coverage for the increased cost of
construction to repair or rebuild structures and the
cost of demolition due to the enforcement of any
ordinance or law, such as building codes.
‘‘(27) The terms ‘private insurer’ and ‘private
reinsurer’ mean any insurer or reinsurer that is (A)
licensed or admitted to write property and casualty
insurance or reinsurance within a State, or (B) is a
branch of an insurer or reinsurer organized or incor-
porated in a country other than the United States
that is entered through and licensed by a State to
conduct insurance or reinsurance business. In the
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case of an insurance exchange or group of unincor-
porated underwriters, the term means an underwrit-
ing syndicate, notwithstanding the licensed or admit-
ted status of the insurance exchange or group of
unincorporated underwriters.
‘‘(28) The term ‘residential property’ means
any (A) 1- to 4-family residential structure (includ-
ing mobile or manufactured homes) and the personal
property therein, and (B) personal property of occu-
pants of residential structures (including condomin-
iums, cooperatives, and apartment structures).
‘‘(29) The term ‘seismic zone’ means an area
within a State identified by the Director as being
subject to major risk from the earthquake peril.
‘‘(30) The term ‘State residual insurance pool-
ing program’ means any State-authorized joint un-
derwriting or joint reinsurance association, risk pool,
residual market mechanism, or other type of State-
sanctioned entity providing property insurance cov-
erage against hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, or tsunamis.
‘‘(31) The term ‘substantially modified building
construction’ means additional or improvements to
an existing structure which constitute at least a 50
percent increase in the overall value of the structure.
HR 2873 SC
‘‘(32) The term ‘supplemental losses’ means
claim and loss adjustment expense payments for the
multi-hazard coverage issued pursuant to subtitle A
of title VIII that exceed the accumulated amounts in
the Primary Insurance Program Fund.
‘‘(33) The term ‘tsunami’ means an ocean wave
generated by underwater disturbances in the earth’s
crust, primarily earthquakes and submarine volcanic
eruptions.
‘‘(34) The term ‘volcanic eruption’ means the
expulsion, as a result of natural causes, of molten
rock, rock fragments, gases, ashes, mud, lava flows,
and other natural substances through an opening in
the crust of the Earth.
‘‘(35) The term ‘volcanic eruption-prone State’
means a State determined by the Director pursuant
to section 701 to have an exposure to the volcanic
eruption peril.
‘‘(36) The term ‘volcanic zone’ means an area
within a State identified by the Director as being
subject to major risk from the volcanic eruption
peril.
‘‘(37) the term ‘windstorm’ means an atmos-
pheric disturbance marked by high velocity move-