129 
dew, moisture, or water to a property shall be excluded 
from coverage under the standard flood insurance policy— 
‘‘(1) subject to paragraph (2), only the degree 
of damage caused by mold, mildew, moisture, or 
water that could have been avoided through inspec-
tion and maintenance may be excluded from that 
coverage; and 
‘‘(2) the condition of the property to which the 
damage relates may not be considered to be attrib-
utable to the policyholder with respect to the prop-
erty, including any failure by the policyholder to in-
spect and maintain the property after a flood re-
cedes, if— 
‘‘(A) the policyholder was denied access to 
the property after the flood receded because 
of— 
‘‘(i) a lawful government order; 
‘‘(ii) a determination by local authori-
ties that the property— 
‘‘(I) is unsafe or unstable; or 
‘‘(II) shall be condemned; or 
‘‘(iii) otherwise unsafe conditions; 
‘‘(B) a reasonable individual exercising 
reasonable judgment could not be expected to 
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130 
inspect, maintain, or mitigate the damage to 
the property under the circumstances; or 
‘‘(C) the policyholder faced particular chal-
lenges, including— 
‘‘(i) practical or financial difficulty in 
inspecting or maintaining the property; 
‘‘(ii) the need to address other more 
immediate priorities, including— 
‘‘(I) the health and well-being of 
the policyholder and the family of the 
policyholder; 
‘‘(II) the preservation of basic 
items; 
‘‘(III) displacement; and 
‘‘(IV) other issues that make in-
spection and maintenance of the prop-
erty a near-term challenge for the pol-
icyholder; and 
‘‘(iii) the unavailability of contractors 
or other individuals to perform any re-
quired inspection and maintenance.’’. 
SEC. 404. APPEAL OF DECISIONS RELATING TO FLOOD IN-
SURANCE COVERAGE. 
(a) ENHANCED
POLICYHOLDER
APPEALS
PROC-
ESS.— 
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131 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Part C of chapter II of the 
National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
4081 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘SEC. 1349. APPEAL OF DECISIONS RELATING TO FLOOD IN-
SURANCE COVERAGE. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘Office’, 
except as otherwise specified, means the Independent Of-
fice for Policyholder Appeals established under subsection 
(b). 
‘‘(b) INDEPENDENT OFFICE FOR POLICYHOLDER AP-
PEALS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact-
ment of this section, the Administrator shall establish an 
Independent Office for Policyholder Appeals to provide for 
a non-adversarial and fair administrative review of appeals 
submitted under subsection (c)(1). 
‘‘(c) APPEALS PROCESS.— 
‘‘(1) RIGHT TO APPEAL.—A policyholder of a 
flood insurance policy issued under the national 
flood insurance program may appeal the denial of a 
claim arising under the policy in writing to the Of-
fice not later than 1 year after receipt of the denial. 
‘‘(2) EXHAUSTION
OF
ADMINISTRATIVE
AP-
PEALS REQUIRED BEFORE FILING CIVIL ACTION.—A 
policyholder of a flood insurance policy issued under 
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132 
the national flood insurance program may not insti-
tute an action on a denied claim arising under the 
policy against the Administrator in a United States 
district court under section 1333 or 1341, as appli-
cable, unless the policyholder has exhausted the ap-
peals process under this section. 
‘‘(d) DUTIES
AND RESPONSIBILITIES.—In admin-
istering appeals submitted under subsection (c)(1), the Of-
fice shall— 
‘‘(1) issue final appeal decisions through an ap-
peal process established by the Office; 
‘‘(2) disseminate information to appellants con-
cerning the information that an appellant may in-
clude in the appeal submissions; 
‘‘(3) provide an appellant with an opportunity 
to discuss any issue on appeal with a claims expert 
in the Office; 
‘‘(4) provide aggregated appeals data to the Of-
fice of the Flood Insurance Advocate for use in ful-
filling the duties and responsibilities of that office 
under section 24(b) of the Homeowner Flood Insur-
ance Affordability Act of 2014 (42 U.S.C. 4033(b)); 
and 
‘‘(5) publish final appeal decisions to a public- 
facing website— 
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133 
‘‘(A) to inform the public; and 
‘‘(B) for awareness to support trans-
parency and training for Write Your Own Com-
panies and contractors of the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency. 
‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—For purposes of imple-
menting the appeals process under this section, the 
Administrator may promulgate new regulations or 
use regulations that were in effect on the date of en-
actment of this section, except that— 
‘‘(A) the Administrator may not declare 
any appeal ineligible if the policyholder submits 
the appeal to the Office not later than 1 year 
after the date on which the policyholder receives 
the denial of the applicable claim, as required 
under subsection (c)(1); 
‘‘(B) upon receiving all information nec-
essary to complete an appeal, the Office shall 
notify the appellant that the Office will make a 
final decision not later than 90 days after re-
ceipt of that information; and 
‘‘(C) not later than 90 days after receipt 
of all information necessary to complete an ap-
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134 
peal, the Office shall make a final decision on 
the appeal. 
‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT OF FINAL DECISION DEAD-
LINE.—If the Office does not comply with the dead-
line under paragraph (1)(C) with respect to an ap-
peal, and the policyholder that brought the appeal is 
ultimately successful, the Administrator shall pay to 
the policyholder interest on the claim that is the 
subject of the appeal, which shall— 
‘‘(A) begin accruing on the date on which 
the policyholder submits the appeal; and 
‘‘(B) be calculated using the rate of return 
on a 3-year Treasury bill, as in effect on the 
date described in subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(3) ALL INFORMATION NECESSARY.—For pur-
poses of paragraph (1), the term ‘all information 
necessary’ includes information obtained from a 
physical reinspection of the property or from an ex-
pert report, if that information is needed in order to 
complete the review of the appeal. 
‘‘(4) LIABILITY PROTECTION.—No cause of ac-
tion shall lie or be maintained in any court against 
the United States, and any such action shall be 
promptly dismissed, for violation of the notification 
requirement under paragraph (1)(B).’’. 
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135 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE FOR NEW APPEALS PROC-
ESS.—Subsection (c) of section 1349 of the National 
Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as added by para-
graph (1), shall take effect on the date that is 180 
days after the date of enactment of this Act. 
(b) REPEAL AND TRANSFER.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date that is 
180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
section 205 of the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer 
Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 (42 U.S.C. 
4011 note; Public Law 108–264) is repealed, and 
any appeals that were pending before the Adminis-
trator under that section on the day before that ef-
fective date shall be transferred to the Independent 
Office for Policyholder Appeals established under 
section 1349 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 
1968 (as added by subsection (a)) for disposition 
under such section 1349. 
(2) TECHNICAL
AND
CONFORMING
AMEND-
MENTS.— 
(A) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of 
contents for the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer 
Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 (Public 
Law 108–264; 118 Stat. 712) is amended by 
striking the item relating to section 205. 
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136 
(B) 
OTHER
AMENDMENT.—Section 
204(a)(3) of the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer 
Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 (42 
U.S.C. 4011 note; Public Law 108–264) is 
amended by striking ‘‘section 205’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘section 1349 of the National Flood Insur-
ance Act of 1968’’. 
(c) JUDICIAL REVIEW REFORM.— 
(1) GOVERNMENT
PROGRAM
WITH
INDUSTRY 
ASSISTANCE.—Section 1341 of the National Flood 
Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4072) is amend-
ed— 
(A) by striking ‘‘In the event the program’’ 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If the program’’; 
(B) in subsection (a), as so designated— 
(i) by inserting ‘‘or the Administra-
tor’s fiscal agent’’ after ‘‘upon the dis-
allowance by the Administrator’’; 
(ii) by striking ‘‘within one year after 
the date of mailing of notice of disallow-
ance or partial disallowance by the Admin-
istrator, may institute an action against 
the Administrator on such claim’’ and in-
serting ‘‘not later than 1 year after ex-
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137 
hausting available administrative remedies, 
may institute an action against the insurer 
on such claim’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) 
EXHAUSTION
OF
ADMINISTRATIVE
REM-
EDIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of sub-
section (a), a claimant exhausts available adminis-
trative remedies if— 
‘‘(A) the claimant submits an appeal and 
complies with all requirements of the appeal 
process established under section 1349 and 
other applicable requirements; and 
‘‘(B) the Administrator— 
‘‘(i) issues a final decision on the ap-
peal that partially or fully concurs with the 
insurer’s disallowance or partial disallow-
ance of the claim; or 
‘‘(ii) makes no finding regarding the 
appeal by the date that is 90 days after 
the date on which the Administrator ac-
knowledges receipt and acceptance of the 
appeal. 
‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS.— 
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138 
‘‘(1) ISSUES RAISED ON APPEAL.—An action 
may not be instituted under this section for any 
issue of a claim that was not presented to the Ad-
ministrator on appeal. 
‘‘(2) WEIGHT
OF
ADMINISTRATOR’S
DISPOSI-
TION.—For purposes of this section, disposition of 
an appeal by the Administrator shall not be com-
petent evidence of liability or the amount of dam-
ages.’’. 
(2) INDUSTRY PROGRAM WITH FEDERAL FINAN-
CIAL
ASSISTANCE.—Section 1333 of the National 
Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4053) is 
amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘The insurance companies 
and other insurers’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The insurance companies and 
other insurers’’; 
(B) in subsection (a), as so designated, by 
striking ‘‘within one year after the date of mail-
ing of notice of disallowance or partial disallow-
ance of the claim, may institute an action on 
such claim against such company or other in-
surer’’ and inserting ‘‘not later than 1 year 
after exhausting available administrative rem-
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167 
‘‘(iv) any Federal legal obligation to 
obtain and maintain flood insurance run-
ning with the property; 
‘‘(v) whether the property is located in 
a wetland; 
‘‘(vi) whether a National Flood Insur-
ance Program Elevation Certificate has 
been completed for the property; and 
‘‘(vii) whether the property has re-
ceived disaster assistance from the Federal 
Emergency 
Management 
Agency, 
the 
Small Business Administration, or the De-
partment of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment; 
‘‘(C) discloses to the maximum extent fea-
sible, in a manner to be determined by the Ad-
ministrator— 
‘‘(i) the relative flood risk associated 
with the property as indicated in flood haz-
ard data maintained by the Administrator 
under this title; and 
‘‘(ii) the availability of and approxi-
mate cost of flood insurance for the prop-
erty; and 
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