Flood Mapping Modernization and Homeowner Empowerment Pilot Program Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.3161 | Sponsor: Rep. Quigley, Mike (D-IL)
Policy area: Emergency Management

Summary:
Flood Mapping Modernization and Homeowner Empowerment Pilot Program Act of 2021
This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to carry out a pilot program to make grants to local governments to enhance the mapping of urban flooding and associated property damage and the availability of such mapping data to homeowners, businesses, and localities to enable them to minimize flooding risk. The grants may only be made to local governments in urbanized areas with populations greater than 50,000 or to stormwater management authorities in those localities.
FEMA shall give priority to grant applicants in areas that (1) are highly vulnerable to a sea level rise, (2) include a military installation or other national security facility, or (3) have a population highly vulnerable to urban flooding and have an uneven capacity for flood mitigation and response efforts due to socioeconomic factors.

To establish a pilot program to enhance the mapping of urban flooding 
and associated property damage and the availability of such mapped data 
   to homeowners, businesses, and localities to help understand and 
      mitigate the risk of such flooding, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Flood Mapping Modernization and 
Homeowner Empowerment Pilot Program Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FLOOD MAPPING MODERNIZATION AND HOMEOWNER EMPOWERMENT PILOT 
              PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency shall carry out a pilot program to make grants to 
units of local government to enhance the mapping of urban flooding and 
associated property damage and the availability of such mapped data to 
homeowners, businesses, and units of local government to enable them to 
minimize the risk of such flooding.
    (b) Objectives.--Amounts from grants made under the pilot program 
under this section may be used only to carry out activities to meet the 
following objectives:
            (1) To develop a methodology for assessing urban flood risk 
        through the deployment of technology-based mapping tools that 
        are easily understandable by the public and effectively convey 
        information regarding the level of flood risk.
            (2) To provide structure-specific projections of annual 
        chance flood frequency.
            (3) To provide structure-based flood-risk assessments.
            (4) To provide urban flood-risk mitigation program design.
            (5) To incorporate information regarding climate trends 
        into urban flooding risk assessments.
            (6) To make the information described in this subsection 
        publicly available on the internet through a web-based portal 
        so as to increase transparency regarding homeowner flood risks.
    (c) Eligible Recipients.--
            (1) In general.--Grants under the pilot program under this 
        section may be made only to units of general local government 
        located in a urbanized areas, as such term is used by the 
        Bureau of the Census of the Department of Commerce, having 
        populations exceeding 50,000 or to stormwater management 
        authorities of such units of general local government.
            (2) One-time grants.--A grant under the pilot program under 
        this section may not be made to--
                    (A) any unit of general local governmental, or 
                stormwater management authority of a unit of general 
                government, that has previously received a grant under 
                the pilot program;
                    (B) any unit of general local government if the 
                stormwater management agency for such unit has 
                previously received a grant under the pilot program; or
                    (C) any stormwater management agency of a unit of 
                general local government if such unit has previously 
                received a grant under the pilot program.
            (3) Treatment of stormwater management authorities.--In the 
        case of a stormwater management authority that operates with 
        respect to more than one unit of general local government, the 
        application of such authority shall be considered for purposes 
        of paragraph (2) of this subsection and subsections (e), (f), 
        and (g)(1) to be made for the largest unit of general local 
        government for which such authority operates. The preceding 
        sentence shall not limit the ability of such authority to carry 
        out activities under the demonstration project in any other 
        jurisdictions or unit of local government with respect to which 
        the authority operates.
    (d) Applications.--To be eligible for a grant under this section a 
unit of general local government or stormwater management agency shall 
submit to the Administrator an application in such form and containing 
such information as the Administrator shall require.
    (e) Selection of Recipients.--
            (1) Annual selection.--Subject to paragraph (2) and to the 
        submission of approvable applications, in each fiscal year for 
        which amounts are made available for grants under the pilot 
        program under this section the Administrator shall select, from 
        among applications submitted under subsection (d) for such 
        fiscal year, 3 units of general government or stormwater 
        management authorities to receive grants under the pilot 
        program under this section.
            (2) Aggregate limit.--Subject only to the submission of 
        approvable applications, the Administrator shall select, in the 
        aggregate over the entire duration of the pilot program under 
        this section, 12 units of general government or stormwater 
        management authorities to receive grants under the pilot 
        program, as follows:
                    (A) Tier 1.--Three of the applicants selected shall 
                be units of general local government, or stormwater 
                management authorities for such units, having a 
                population exceeding 800,000, as follows:
                            (i) Pelagic coastal city.--One shall be a 
                        unit of general local government, or stormwater 
                        authority for such a unit, that is a pelagic 
                        unit.
                            (ii) Non-pelagic coastal city.--One shall 
                        be unit of general local government, or 
                        stormwater authority for such a unit, that is a 
                        coastal unit, but not a pelagic unit.
                            (iii) Non-coastal city.--One shall be unit 
                        of general local government, or stormwater 
                        authority for such a unit, that is not a 
                        coastal unit.
                    (B) Tier 2.--Six of the applicants selected shall 
                be units of general local government, or stormwater 
                management authorities for such units, having a 
                population exceeding 200,000 but not exceeding 800,000, 
                as follows:
                            (i) Coastal cities.--Three shall be units 
                        of general local government, or stormwater 
                        management authorities for such units, that are 
                        coastal units.
                            (ii) Non-coastal cities.--Three shall be 
                        units of general local government, or 
                        stormwater management authorities for such 
                        units, that are not coastal units.
                    (C) Tier 3.--Three of the applicants selected shall 
                be units of general local government, or stormwater 
                management authorities for such units, having a 
                population exceeding 50,000 but not exceeding 200,000.
    (f) Priority.--
            (1) In general.--The Administrator shall select applicants 
        for grants under the pilot program under this section based on 
        the extent to which their applications will achieve the 
        objectives set forth in subsection (b).
            (2) Tiers 2 and 3.--In selecting applicants to receive 
        grants under the pilot program under this section pursuant to 
        subparagraphs (B) and (C) of subsection (e)(2), the 
        Administrator shall give priority to applicants--
                    (A) that are highly vulnerable to sea level rise;
                    (B) within which are located a military 
                installation or other facility relating to national 
                security concerns; or
                    (C) that have a population that is highly 
                vulnerable to urban flooding and have an uneven 
                capacity for flood mitigation and response efforts 
                resulting from socioeconomic factors.
    (g) Amount.--
            (1) Considerations.--In determining the amount of grant 
        under the pilot program under this section, the Administrator 
        shall consider the population of the grant recipient, which may 
        be considered in terms of the tier under subsection (e)(2) of 
        the recipient.
            (2) Federal share.--The amount of a grant under the pilot 
        program under this section may not exceed 75 percent of the 
        total cost of the activities under subsection (b) to be carried 
        out using the grant amounts.
    (h) Duration.--The Administrator shall require each recipient of a 
grant under the pilot program under this section to complete the 
activities under subsection (b) to be carried out using the grant 
amounts before the expiration of the 18-month period beginning upon the 
initial receipt of grant amounts under the pilot program.
    (i) Use of Census Data.--The Administrator shall make all 
determinations under the pilot program regarding population using the 
most recent available data from the decennial census.
    (j) Grantee Reports to FEMA.--Each recipient of a grant under the 
pilot program under this section shall, not later than the expiration 
of the 30-month period beginning upon the initial receipt of any such 
grant amounts, submit to the Administrator a report that describes--
            (1) the activities carried out with amounts from the grant;
            (2) how the activities carried out with such grant amounts 
        have met the objectives described in subsection (b); and
            (3) any lessons learned in carrying out such activities and 
        any recommendations for future mapping modernization efforts by 
        the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
    (k) Biennial Reports by FEMA.--Not later than the expiration of the 
24-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, and 
not later than the expiration of each successive 24-month period 
thereafter until the completion of all activities carried out with 
amounts from grants under the pilot program under this section, the 
Administrator shall submit to the Congress and make available to the 
public on an internet website a report that--
            (1) describes--
                    (A) the progress of the activities carried out with 
                amounts from such grants; and
                    (B) the effectiveness of technology-based mapping 
                tools used in carrying out the activities described in 
                subparagraph (A); and
            (2) with respect to the final report that the Administrator 
        is required to submit under this subsection, includes 
        recommendations to the Congress and the executive branch of the 
        Federal Government for implementing strategies, practices, and 
        technologies to mitigate the effects of urban flooding.
    (l) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that, because 
the pilot program is limited with respect to scope and resources, 
communities that participate in the pilot program should acknowledge 
that the most successful efforts to mitigate the effects of urban 
flooding--
            (1) take a structural-based mitigation approach with 
        respect to construction, which includes--
                    (A) recognizing any post-storm damage that may 
                occur; and
                    (B) pursuing designs that proactively minimize 
                future flood damage;
            (2) make individuals in the community aware, through any 
        cost-effective and available means of education, of the best 
        approaches regarding the construction of properties that are 
        able to survive floods, which reduces the cost of future 
        repairs; and
            (3) encourage home and property owners to consider the 
        measures described in paragraphs (1) and (2), which are the 
        most cost-effective and prudent ways to reduce the impact of 
        flooding, when constructing or renovating building components.
    (m) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions shall apply:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
            (2) Coastal.--The term ``coastal'' means, with respect to a 
        unit of general local government, that the unit borders a body 
        of water that--
                    (A) exceeds 2,000 square miles in size; and
                    (B) is not a river.
            (3) Pelagic.--The term ``pelagic'' means, with respect to a 
        unit of general local government, that the unit is a coastal 
        unit and the body of water that the unit borders is an ocean or 
        other large, open body of water (including bays and gulfs) that 
        empties into an ocean.
            (4) Urban flooding.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``urban flooding'' means 
                the inundation of property in a built environment, 
                particularly in more densely populated areas, caused 
                either by falling rain collecting on impervious 
                surfaces or increasing the levels of nearby water 
                bodies and overwhelming the capacity of drainage 
                systems, such as storm sewers, including--
                            (i) situations in which stormwater enters 
                        buildings through windows, doors, or other 
                        openings;
                            (ii) water backup through sewer pipes, 
                        showers, toilets, sinks, and floor drains;
                            (iii) seepage through walls and floors;
                            (iv) the accumulation of water on property 
                        or public rights-of-way; and
                            (v) the overflow from water bodies, such as 
                        rivers, lakes, and oceans.
                    (B) Exclusion.--Such term does not include flooding 
                in undeveloped or agricultural areas.
    (n) Funding.--There is authorized to be appropriated for grants 
under the pilot program under this section--
            (1) $1,200,000 for fiscal year 2022; and
            (2) $4,300,000 for fiscal year 2023, to remain available 
        through 2025.
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