IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5846 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 17, 2018 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs 
AN ACT 
To require the Comptroller General of the United States 
to conduct a study regarding the buyout practices of 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Flood Risk 
Mitigation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. GAO STUDY REGARDING BUYOUT PRACTICES. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad-
ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency; 
(2) the term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-
gress’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 
(C) the Committee on Financial Services of 
the House of Representatives; and 
(D) the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; 
(3) the terms ‘‘buyout practice’’ and ‘‘buyout 
program’’ mean a practice or program, as applicable, 
under which the Administrator provides assistance 
to State and local governments so that those entities 
may acquire flood-damaged properties committed to 
open space use in perpetuity in accordance with sec-
tion 404(b)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
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(2) ways to streamline the buyout practices de-
scribed in paragraph (1) in order to provide more 
timely assistance to a larger number of State and 
local governments. 
(c) CONSIDERATIONS
AND ANALYSIS.—The study 
conducted under subsection (b) shall consider and analyze 
the following: 
(1) To the extent possible, current (as of the 
date on which the study is conducted) and future 
trends with respect to repetitive loss structures and 
severe repetitive loss structures that are insured 
under the National Flood Insurance Program, in-
cluding, with respect to both inland and coastal 
areas— 
(A) changes in flood risk, flood frequency, 
and flood magnitude since the inception of the 
National Flood Insurance Program; and 
(B) projections for changes in flood risk, 
flood frequency, and flood magnitude by 2025, 
2050, and 2075. 
(2) To the extent possible, buyout practices (as 
of the date on which the study is conducted), includ-
ing— 
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(A) the availability of funding sources for 
buyout programs through various grant pro-
grams; 
(B) the total number of properties ac-
quired though buyout programs; 
(C) the average length of time for a State 
or local government to acquire a flood-damaged 
property under a buyout program, with that pe-
riod beginning on the date on which the State 
or local government, as applicable, begins par-
ticipating in the buyout program; 
(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 
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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— 
(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 
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(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 section 
404(b)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c(b)(2)); 
and 
(II) may be used for non-struc-
tural mitigation, conservation, and 
recreational purposes; and 
(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— 
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(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 
result of sea level rise, population changes, subsid-
ence, and other factors. 
(7) A cost-benefit analysis of mitigation and 
buy-out projects and programs, including an assess-
ment of opportunities and challenges for leveraging 
different Federal resources and funding to maximize 
the value of Federal investment in disaster mitiga-
tion. 
(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-
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