Build for Future Disasters Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.2632 | Sponsor: Rep. Peters, Scott H. (D-CA)
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
Build for Future Disasters Act of 2021
This bill eliminates certain National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) rate subsidies for newly constructed property. Specifically, the chargeable rate for NFIP coverage of newly constructed property and any substantial improvements of property started on or after January 1, 2025, must not be not less than the estimated risk premium rate.
The Government Accountability Office must report on the feasibility and effects of (1) eliminating by January 1, 2027, all subsidies that reduce premiums for NFIP coverage to amounts below those necessary to operate to program without a deficit, and (2) prohibiting these subsidies unless flood mitigation activities have been completed on a property.

To eliminate any subsidies for flood insurance coverage under the 
 National Flood Insurance Program for new construction, 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 ``Build for Future Disasters Act of 
2021''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
        Administration, since 2000, flooding has become the most common 
        and costly natural disaster in the United States, impacting all 
        50 States and causing more than $845 billion in damage.
            (2) A 2019 report from the California-based analytics 
        company CoreLogic found that 7.3 million homes along the 
        Atlantic and Gulf Coasts alone are at risk from storm surge, 
        with a potential $1.8 trillion in reconstruction costs.
            (3) Research from New York University's Furman Center for 
        Real Estate and Urban Policy estimated that, in 2015, 15 
        million people nationwide lived in the 100-year floodplain 
        spread across coastal and inland States.
            (4) The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), 
        administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 
        provides federally backed flood insurance in over 22,000 
        communities in 56 States and jurisdictions in the United States 
        with more than 5 million policies providing over $1.3 trillion 
        in coverage.
            (5) In 1966, while calling for the creation of the NFIP, 
        the Task Force on Federal Flood Control Policy provided ``a 
        caution on flood insurance'' that if ``incorrectly applied, it 
        could exacerbate the whole problem of flood losses.''. The 
        report warned that insurance coverage not proportionate to risk 
        would ``invite economic waste of great magnitude . . . 
        aggravate flood damages and constitute gross public 
        irresponsibility''.
            (6) According to the Government Accountability Office 
        (GAO), the NFIP offers 20 percent of policyholders heavily 
        subsidized rates that FEMA estimates may be 45 to 50 percent 
        below a full-risk rate.
            (7) Since 2005, the NFIP has borrowed nearly $40 billion 
        from taxpayers to meet policyholder insurance claims.
            (8) In 2017, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 
        under its current model the NFIP is expected to lose $1.3 
        billion a year.
            (9) Historically, repeatedly flooded properties have 
        accounted for just 1 percent of properties with National Flood 
        Insurance Program policies but about 25 to 30 percent of flood 
        claims. Nationwide more than 150,000 properties have repeatedly 
        flooded at a cost to the NFIP of more than $12.5 billion.
            (10) On May 26, 2019, four former FEMA Administrators wrote 
        a letter to Congressional leaders stating: ``Change is needed 
        to allow the NFIP to pay off its debt and serve its purposes of 
        reducing Federal disaster spending following flood events, 
        minimizing flood losses, and discouraging unwise building in 
        flood-prone areas.''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that the Federal Government 
should--
            (1) discourage regulation and policies that result in 
        building and rebuilding homes located in high flood-risk areas;
            (2) limit the availability of federally subsidized flood 
        insurance for construction of new homes, business, and 
        infrastructure;
            (3) coordinate with floodplain managers, city planners, 
        administrators, and local elected officials to ensure that 
        structures built in flood-prone areas comply with building and 
        elevation codes and regulations that are designed to reduce 
        their risk of damage from flooding; and
            (4) prioritize increased mitigation funding through new and 
        existing programs to help communities better prepare for future 
        flood disasters before they happen.

SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF SUBSIDIES FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION.

    Subsection (c) of section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act 
of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph:
            ``(3) New construction.--Any property the construction or 
        substantial improvement of which the Administrator determines 
        has been started on or after January 1, 2025, and the 
        appropriate actuarial rate shall be adjusted with any changes 
        to the flood zone or base flood elevation reflected in relevant 
        flood insurance rate map, regardless of the previous rating; in 
        determining whether a property is subject to this paragraph, 
        the Administrator shall consider the issue date for any 
        relevant building permit or occupancy certificate issued by the 
        community in which such property is located; for purposes of 
        this paragraph only, a determination regarding substantial 
        improvement may exclude the costs of any improvement to a 
        structure or the structure's associated land area for which the 
        primary purpose is flood mitigation or floodproofing; such 
        improvements may include elevation of the building or 
        utilities, floodproofing, or other site-specific mitigation 
        activities that would otherwise meet the eligibility 
        requirements established by the Administrator under authority 
        of section 1366(c) (42 U.S.C. 4104c(c)); nothing in this 
        paragraph may be construed to prohibit application of any 
        future means-tested assistance for insurance affordability to 
        construction or substantial improvement covered by this 
        paragraph.''.

SEC. 5. GAO STUDY AND REPORT.

    The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study 
to determine the feasibility and effects of--
            (1) eliminating, by January 1, 2027, all subsidies that 
        reduce premiums for coverage under the National Flood Insurance 
        Program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to amounts 
        that are less than the amount that is actuarially necessary for 
        such Program to operate without a deficit; and
            (2) prohibiting any subsidy described in paragraph (1) for 
        any property unless mitigation activities to decrease the risk 
        of flood damage to such property have been completed.
Not later than the expiration of the 12-month period beginning on the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit 
a report to the Congress that describes the findings of the study 
pursuant to this section.
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