SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act of 2010’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. 
Sec. 3. Extension of national flood insurance program. 
Sec. 4. Maximum coverage limits. 
Sec. 5. Phase-in of actuarial rates for certain pre-firm properties, severe repet-
itive loss properties, and properties substantially damaged or 
substantially improved. 
Sec. 6. 5-year delay in effective date of mandatory purchase requirement for 
new flood hazard areas. 
Sec. 7. 5-year phase-in of flood insurance rates for newly mapped areas. 
Sec. 8. Increase in annual limitation on premium increases. 
Sec. 9. Consideration of construction, reconstruction, and improvement of flood 
protection systems in determination of flood insurance rates. 
Sec. 10. Discounted flood insurance rates for properties protected by a flood- 
protection system from less than a 100-year frequency flood. 
Sec. 11. Treatment of certain flood protection projects. 
Sec. 12. Prohibition of extension of subsidized rates to lapsed policies. 
Sec. 13. Notification to homeowners regarding mandatory purchase require-
ment applicability and rate phase-ins. 
Sec. 14. Community outreach plan for updating floodplain areas and flood-risk 
zones. 
Sec. 15. Notification of establishment of flood elevations. 
Sec. 16. Coverage for additional living expenses and business interruption. 
Sec. 17. Exception to waiting period for effective date of policies. 
Sec. 18. Minimum deductibles for claims. 
Sec. 19. Payment of premiums in installments for residential properties. 
Sec. 20. Termination of force-placed insurance. 
Sec. 21. Enforcement. 
Sec. 22. Notification to tenants of availability of contents insurance. 
Sec. 23. Grants for direct funding of mitigation activities for individual repet-
itive claims properties. 
Sec. 24. Flood insurance outreach. 
Sec. 25. Treatment of swimming pool enclosures outside of hurricane season. 
Sec. 26. Requirements relating to windstorm and flood. 
Sec. 27. Notice of availability of flood insurance and escrow in RESPA good 
faith estimate. 
Sec. 28. Authorization of additional FEMA staff. 
Sec. 29. Plan to verify maintenance of flood insurance on Mississippi and Lou-
isiana properties receiving emergency supplemental funds. 
Sec. 30. Flood insurance advocate. 
Sec. 31. Treatment of previously mapped areas. 
Sec. 32. Remapping of areas with improved levees. 
Sec. 33. Appeals.
Sec. 34. Eligibility of property demolition and rebuilding under flood mitigation 
assistance program. 
Sec. 35. Study regarding mandatory purchase requirement for non-federally re-
lated loans. 
Sec. 36. Study of methods to increase flood insurance program participation by 
low-income families and families in rural communities and on 
Indian reservations. 
Sec. 37. Report on inclusion of building codes in floodplain management cri-
teria. 
Sec. 38. Study on repaying flood insurance debt. 
Sec. 39. Study regarding certain harbor areas. 
Sec. 40. Study regarding hazard modeling. 
Sec. 41. Study regarding impact of rate increases on pre-FIRM properties. 
Sec. 42. Study of effects of Act. 
Sec. 43. Reimbursement for costs incurred by homeowners obtaining letters of 
map amendment. 
Sec. 44. Interim final rulemaking. 
Sec. 45. Study on private insurance market, community participation in the 
National Flood Insurance Program, and the regionalization of 
the National Flood Insurance Program. 
Sec. 46. Ethics compliance. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 
(1) since the enactment of National Flood In-
surance Act of 1968, the national flood insurance 
program has been the primary source of reliable, 
reasonably priced, flood insurance coverage for mil-
lions of American homes and businesses; 
(2) today over 5,500,000 homes and businesses 
in the United States rely on the national flood insur-
ance program to provide a degree of financial secu-
rity; 
(3) although participation in the national flood 
insurance program has, in the past, largely been lim-
ited to properties required to participate in the pro-
gram because of the program’s mandatory purchase
requirement for properties in special flood hazard 
areas with loans from federally regulated lenders, re-
cent annual and extraordinary flooding has resulted 
in the program enjoying its highest voluntary par-
ticipation since the establishment of the mandatory 
flood insurance purchase requirement; 
(4) several years of below-average flood claims 
losses and increased voluntary participation in the 
national flood insurance program have allowed the 
program to fully service the debt incurred following 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and allowed the pro-
gram to pay $598,000,000 of the principal of that 
outstanding debt; 
(5) though significant reforms are needed to 
further improve the financial outlook of the national 
flood insurance program, long-term and reliable au-
thorization of the program is an essential element to 
stabilizing the already fragile United States housing 
market; 
(6) increased flooding in areas outside des-
ignated special flood hazard areas prompted the Ex-
ecutive and the Congress in 2002 to begin calling for 
the national flood insurance program to develop and 
disseminate revised, updated flood insurance rate 
maps that reflect the real risk of flooding for prop-
erties not previously identified as being located with-
in a special flood hazard area; 
(7) dissemination of accurate, up-to-date, flood- 
risk information remains a primary goal of the na-
tional flood insurance program and such information 
should be disseminated as soon as such information 
is collected and available; 
(8) communities should be encouraged to make 
their residents aware of updated flood-risk data 
while communities are assessing and incorporating 
updated flood-risk data into long-term community 
planning; 
(9) the maximum coverage limits for flood in-
surance policies should be increased to reflect infla-
tion and the increased cost of housing; and 
(10) phasing out flood insurance premium sub-
sidies currently extended to vacation homes, second 
homes, and commercial properties would result in 
significant average annual savings to the national 
flood insurance program. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to identify priorities essential to the reform 
and ongoing stable functioning of the national flood 
insurance program;
(2) to increase incentives for homeowners and 
communities to participate in the national flood in-
surance program and to improve oversight to ensure 
better accountability of the national flood insurance 
program and the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency; and 
(3) to increase awareness of homeowners of 
flood risks and improve the information regarding 
such risks provided to homeowners. 
SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) PROGRAM EXTENSION.—Section 1319 of the Na-
tional Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4026) is 
amended by striking ‘‘September 30, 2008’’ and inserting 
‘‘September 30, 2015’’. 
(b) FINANCING.—Section 1309(a) of such Act (42 
U.S.C. 4016(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘September 30, 
2008’’ and inserting ‘‘September 30, 2015’’. 
(c) EXTENSION OF PILOT PROGRAM FOR MITIGA-
TION OF SEVERE REPETITIVE LOSS PROPERTIES.—Sec-
tion 1361A of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 
(42 U.S.C. 4102a) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (k)(1), by striking ‘‘2005, 
2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘2011, 
2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015’’; and
(2) by striking subsection (l). 
SEC. 4. MAXIMUM COVERAGE LIMITS. 
Subsection (b) of section 1306 of the National Flood 
Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4013(b)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘$250,000’’ 
and inserting ‘‘$335,000’’; 
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘$100,000’’ 
and inserting ‘‘$135,000’’; and 
(3) in paragraph (4)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘$500,000’’ each place 
such term appears and inserting ‘‘$670,000’’; 
and 
(B) by inserting before ‘‘; and’’ the fol-
lowing: ‘‘; except that, in the case of any non-
residential property that is a structure con-
taining more than one dwelling unit that is 
made available for occupancy by rental (not-
withstanding the provisions applicable to the 
determination of the risk premium rate for such 
property), additional flood insurance in excess 
of such limits shall be made available to every 
insured upon renewal and every applicant for 
insurance so as to enable any such insured or 
applicant to receive coverage up to a total 
amount that is equal to the product of the total
of the Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act of 
2010. 
‘‘(5) SEVERE REPETITIVE LOSS PROPERTIES.— 
Any severe repetitive loss property, as such term is 
defined in section 1361A(b), that is so designated as 
such as a result of losses occurring on or after the 
date of the enactment of the Flood Insurance Re-
form Priorities Act of 2010. 
‘‘(6) PROPERTIES
SUBSTANTIALLY
DAMAGED 
OR SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVED.—Any property that, 
on or after the date of the enactment of the Flood 
Insurance Reform and Priorities Act of 2010, has 
experienced or sustained— 
‘‘(A) substantial damage exceeding 50 per-
cent of the fair market value of such property; 
or 
‘‘(B) substantial improvement exceeding 
30 percent of the fair market value of such 
property.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—Section 1308 of the 
National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015) 
is amended— 
(1) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 
by striking ‘‘the limitations provided under
paragraphs (1) and (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub-
section (e)’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘, ex-
cept’’ and all that follows through ‘‘subsection 
(e)’’; and 
(2) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘paragraph 
(2) or (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (7)’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE AND TRANSITION.— 
(1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 
by subsections (a) and (b) shall apply beginning 
upon the expiration of the 3-year period that begins 
on the date of the enactment of this Act, except as 
provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection. 
(2) TRANSITION FOR PROPERTIES COVERED BY 
FLOOD INSURANCE UPON EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
(A) INCREASE OF RATES OVER TIME.—In 
the case of any property described in paragraph 
(2), (3), (4), (5), or (6) of section 1308(c) of 
the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as 
amended by subsection (a) of this section, that, 
as of the effective date under paragraph (1) of 
this subsection, is covered under a policy for 
flood insurance made available under the na-
tional flood insurance program for which the 
chargeable premium rates are less than the ap-
plicable estimated risk premium rate under sec-
tion 1307(a)(1) for the area in which the prop-
erty is located, the Director of the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency shall increase 
the chargeable premium rates for such property 
over time to such applicable estimated risk pre-
mium rate under section 1307(a)(1). 
(B) ANNUAL
INCREASE.—Such increase 
shall be made by increasing the chargeable pre-
mium rates for the property (after application 
of any increase in the premium rates otherwise 
applicable to such property), once during the 
12-month period that begins upon the effective 
date under paragraph (1) of this subsection and 
once every 12 months thereafter until such in-
crease is accomplished, by 20 percent (or such 
lesser amount as may be necessary so that the 
chargeable rate does not exceed such applicable 
estimated risk premium rate or to comply with 
subparagraph (C)). 
(C) PROPERTIES
SUBJECT
TO
PHASE-IN 
AND ANNUAL INCREASES.—In the case of any 
pre-FIRM property (as such term is defined in 
section 578(b) of the National Flood Insurance 
Reform Act of 1974), the aggregate increase,
during any 12-month period, in the chargeable 
premium rate for the property that is attrib-
utable to this paragraph or to an increase de-
scribed in section 1308(e) of the National Flood 
Insurance Act of 1968 may not exceed 20 per-
cent. 
(D) FULL ACTUARIAL RATES.—The provi-
sions of paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6) 
of such section 1308(c) shall apply to such a 
property upon the accomplishment of the in-
crease under this paragraph and thereafter. 
SEC. 6. 5-YEAR DELAY IN EFFECTIVE DATE OF MANDATORY 
PURCHASE REQUIREMENT FOR NEW FLOOD 
HAZARD AREAS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Flood Disaster 
Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new subsections: 
‘‘(i) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE OF MANDATORY 
PURCHASE REQUIREMENT
FOR NEW FLOOD HAZARD 
AREAS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any area 
that was not previously designated as an area having 
special flood hazards and that, pursuant to any 
issuance, revision, updating, or other change in flood 
insurance maps that takes effect on or after Sep-
tember 30, 2007, becomes designated as an area 
having special flood hazards, if each State and local 
government having jurisdiction over any portion of 
the geographic area has complied with paragraph 
(2), such designation shall not take effect for pur-
poses of subsection (a), (b), or (e) of this section, or 
section 202(a) of this Act, until the expiration of the 
5-year period beginning upon the date that such 
maps, as issued, revised, update, or otherwise 
changed, become effective. 
‘‘(2) NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.—A State or local 
government shall be considered to have complied 
with this paragraph with respect to any geographic 
area described in paragraph (1) only if the State or 
local government has, before the effective date of the 
issued, revised, updated, or changed maps, and in 
accordance with such standards as shall be estab-
lished by the Director— 
‘‘(A) developed an evacuation plan to be 
implemented in the event of flooding in such 
portion of the geographic area; and 
‘‘(B) developed and implemented an out-
reach and communication plan to advise occu-
pants in such portion of the geographic area of 
potential flood risks, appropriate evacuation