Title: Promoting Flood Risk Mitigation Act
Policy area: Emergency Management

Summary:
Promoting Flood Risk Mitigation Act
This bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study to assess: (1) the efficacy of practices or programs under which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides assistance to state and local governments to acquire flood-damaged properties (buyout practices), and (2) ways to streamline the buyout practices. The study must consider and analyze certain factors, such as current and future trends regarding repetitive loss structures that are insured under the National Flood Insurance Program and constraints on buyout practices.
The GAO shall submit to Congress and FEMA a report on the buyout practices study and the feasibility of FEMA establishing an alternative buyout program.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2862 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2862

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 16, 2018

 Mr. Schatz (for himself and Mr. Scott) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

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 Administrator of 
        the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
            (2) the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' 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;
            (4) the term ``eligible property owner'' means a 
        policyholder under the National Flood Insurance Program with a 
        household income that is not more than 120 percent of the mean 
        household income for the community in which the primary 
        residence of the policyholder is located;
            (5) the term ``National Flood Insurance Program'' means the 
        program established under the National Flood Insurance Act of 
        1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.);
            (6) the term ``repetitive loss structure'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 1370(a) of the National Flood 
        Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4121(a)); and
            (7) the term ``severe repetitive loss structure'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 1366(h) of the National Flood 
        Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104c(h)).
    (b) Study Required.--The Comptroller General of the United States 
shall conduct a study to assess--
            (1) the efficacy of buyout practices, as in effect on the 
        date on which the study is conducted; and
            (2) ways to streamline the buyout practices described 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, including, 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), including--
                    (A) the availability of funding sources for buyout 
                programs through various grant programs;
                    (B) the total number of properties acquired 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 period beginning on the date 
                on which the State or local government, as applicable, 
                begins participating 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 governments;
                    (E) the socioeconomic status of recipients of 
                buyouts under buyout programs; and
                    (F) examples of successful buyout programs, 
                including best practices employed.
            (3) Administrative, financial, or temporal constraints that 
        may impede the timely acquisition of properties under a buyout 
        program, including--
                    (A) a lack of communication or cooperation 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 program; and
                    (C) a lack of adequate funding.
            (4) Potential options, methods, and strategies to address 
        the constraints identified under paragraph (3), including by 
        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 
                                purchase and acquire the properties of 
                                owners that have incurred substantial 
                                damage from a flood event; and
                                    (II) a premium credit as an 
                                incentive 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 
                                practices that are in effect as of the 
                                date on which the property is acquired; 
                                and
                                    (II) may be used for non-structural 
                                mitigation, conservation, and 
                                recreational purposes; and
                            (iv) not fewer than five and not more than 
                        10 State and local governments shall 
                        participate; and
                    (B) having nonprofit organizations play a role 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 reduction 
        benefits that buyout practices, as in effect on the date on 
        which the study is conducted, provide, which shall--
                    (A) take into account the differences between 
                inland and coastal areas; and
                    (B) include--
                            (i) examples in which ecosystem restoration 
                        and other nature-based approaches have enhanced 
                        the reduction of flood risk; and
                            (ii) recommendations for best practices.
            (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, subsidence, 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 appropriate committees of Congress 
        and the Administrator a report that sets forth the analysis, 
        conclusions, and recommendations resulting from the study 
        conducted under subsection (b).
            (2) Contents.--The report submitted under paragraph (1) 
        shall detail the feasibility of the Administrator 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).
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