(D) an estimate of the number of flood- 
damaged properties that could be acquired from 
willing property owners under buyout programs 
with the full cooperation of State and local gov-
ernments; 
(E) the socioeconomic status of recipients 
of buyouts under buyout programs; and 
(F) examples of successful buyout pro-
grams, including best practices employed. 
(3) Administrative, financial, or temporal con-
straints that may impede the timely acquisition of 
properties under a buyout program, including— 
(A) a lack of communication or coopera-
tion between the Administrator and the State 
and local governments that purchase properties 
under a buyout program; 
(B) pressures to redevelop a property after 
acquiring a property through a buyout pro-
gram; and 
(C) a lack of adequate funding. 
(4) Potential options, methods, and strategies 
to address the constraints identified under para-
graph (3), including evaluating the feasibility of— 
(A) a pilot program under which— 
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(i) an eligible property owner may 
agree, before a flood event occurs, to have 
the primary single-family residence of the 
eligible property owner purchased after the 
residence has been substantially damaged 
by a flood; 
(ii) the Administrator may provide— 
(I) financial assistance to State 
and local governments that are willing 
to participate in the program to pur-
chase and acquire the properties of 
owners that have incurred substantial 
damage from a flood event; and 
(II) a premium credit as an in-
centive to eligible property owners to 
agree to participate in the program; 
(iii) properties that are acquired— 
(I) shall be maintained as open 
space in accordance with buyout prac-
tices that are in effect as of the date 
on which the property is acquired; and 
(II) may be used for non-struc-
tural mitigation, conservation, and 
recreational purposes; and 
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(iv) not fewer than 5 and not more 
than 10 State and local governments shall 
participate; and 
(B) the role that nonprofit organizations 
could play in making buyouts more readily 
available or more efficient, similar to the role 
that those organizations play in the acquisition 
of properties for conservation purposes. 
(5) The ecological, financial, and flood risk re-
duction benefits that buyout practices, as in effect 
on the date on which the study is conducted, pro-
vide, which shall— 
(A) take into account the differences be-
tween inland and coastal areas; and 
(B) include— 
(i) examples in which ecosystem res-
toration 
and 
other 
nature-based 
ap-
proaches have enhanced the reduction of 
flood risk; and 
(ii) recommendations for best prac-
tices. 
(6) To the extent possible, an assessment of 
how the Administrator may use buyout programs to 
reduce future flood disaster recovery costs that are 
attributable to future projections of flood risk as a 
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result of sea level rise, population changes, subsid-
ence, and other factors. 
(d) REPORT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit to the ap-
propriate committees of Congress and the Adminis-
trator a report that sets forth the analysis, conclu-
sions, and recommendations resulting from the study 
conducted under subsection (b). 
(2) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under 
paragraph (1) shall detail the feasibility of the Ad-
ministrator establishing, and the processes required 
for the Administrator to establish, an alternative 
buyout program, such as the pilot program described 
in subsection (c)(4)(A). 
Æ 
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