[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 921 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 921

To authorize the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 
make grants to communities to be used for outreach efforts to encourage 
         participation in the national flood insurance program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 2007

 Ms. Matsui (for herself, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
  Blumenauer, Mrs. Tauscher, Mr. George Miller of California, and Mr. 
   Shimkus) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 
make grants to communities to be used for outreach efforts to encourage 
         participation in the national flood insurance program.

    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 Insurance Community Outreach 
Grant Program Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Following the human suffering and devastation caused by 
        Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, the Federal Government and State 
        and local governments have responded to public concerns about 
        flood safety by increasing resources to improve flood 
        protection measures in communities throughout the United 
        States.
            (2) In the year since these disasters, the Federal 
        Government has  directed $7,000,000,000 in emergency 
        supplemental spending to restoring and strengthening hurricane 
        protection in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast as well as 
        $1,900,000,000 from the annual budget of the U.S. Army Corps of 
        Engineers for flood control and hurricane protection measures 
        across the Nation.
            (3) While improving this infrastructure is essential to a 
        comprehensive approach to flood protection, communities must be 
        encouraged to better assess their flood risk and better inform 
        the public about the importance of maintaining flood insurance 
        protection.
            (4) To reduce the flood risk to communities in the United 
        States, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) must be 
        solvent and more effective.
            (5) To achieve these goals, the Federal Emergency 
        Management Agency (FEMA), which administers the NFIP, should 
        work with communities to communicate directly with the people 
        who live and work in the Nation's floodplains on issues 
        concerning flood risk and flood protection.
            (6) More than 20,000 communities currently participate in 
        the NFIP and nearly all of these communities have properties 
        that are located in special flood hazard areas--areas in which 
        Federal law requires that property owners purchase flood 
        insurance coverage before they can obtain a mortgage loan from 
        a federally regulated lender.
            (7) Despite this mandatory purchase requirement, a FEMA-
        commissioned study by the RAND Corporation found that 20 to 25 
        percent of property owners in special flood hazard areas who 
        have a mortgage from a federally regulated lender and are 
        required to purchase flood insurance do not carry a policy.
            (8) In the next few years, the number of communities that 
        participate in the NFIP will increase, as FEMA's flood map 
        modernization program reassesses the flood risk to communities 
        throughout the Nation.
            (9) As the map modernization program brings new communities 
        under the flood insurance mandatory purchase requirement, FEMA 
        should partner with these communities to educate property 
        owners, business owners, and property renters about the nature 
        of the flood risk in their area and the importance of 
        maintaining flood insurance protection.
            (10) In addition to improving public awareness of flood 
        risk and flood insurance, many communities that undertake 
        outreach activities can qualify for reduced flood insurance 
        premiums under the NFIP's community rating system program.
            (11) Flood risk is not limited to properties that are 
        located in special flood hazard areas, and many properties that 
        are no longer subject to the mandatory purchase requirement 
        remain at risk of flooding, especially in areas that are 
        protected by levees.
            (12) FEMA estimates that between 20 and 25 percent of all 
        claims paid by the NFIP are for claims on properties located 
        outside of these special flood hazard areas.
            (13) Thus, a property's release from the Federal flood 
        insurance purchase requirement does not mean that the property 
        is no longer subject to risk of flooding.
            (14) In communities where properties have been released 
        from this Federal requirement, outreach activities can help to 
        educate the public about the importance of voluntarily 
        maintaining flood insurance coverage, including the potential 
        availability of low-cost preferred risk policies.
            (15) Many property owners who own a home or building that 
        is located in an area that is subject to moderate-to-low risk 
        of flooding are unaware that they may qualify for the low-cost, 
        preferred risk flood insurance--a product of the NFIP.
            (16) By partnering with local flood control authorities, 
        FEMA can better promote flood safety and flood insurance and, 
        in communities with properties that are no longer subject to 
        the mandatory purchase requirement, retain a higher number of 
        NFIP policies.
            (17) Reducing the number of uninsured property owners in 
        communities that are subject to flood risk will reduce the 
        fiscal effects of a flood disaster to both property owners and 
        the Federal Government.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to establish a flood 
insurance outreach and education grants program that provides resources 
to communities for educating property owners and renters on flood 
insurance options while strengthening the national flood insurance 
program.

SEC. 3. FLOOD INSURANCE OUTREACH GRANTS.

    Chapter I of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
4011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``SEC. 1325. GRANTS FOR OUTREACH TO PROPERTY OWNERS AND RENTERS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director may, to the extent amounts are made 
available pursuant to subsection (h), make grants to local governmental 
agencies responsible for floodplain management activities (including 
such agencies of Indians tribes, as such term is defined in section 4 
of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 
1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103)) in communities that participate in the national 
flood insurance program under this title, for use by such agencies to 
carry out outreach activities to encourage and facilitate the purchase 
of flood insurance protection under this Act by owners and renters of 
properties in such communities and to promote educational activities 
that increase awareness of flood risk reduction.
    ``(b) Outreach Activities.--Amounts from a grant under this section 
shall be used only for activities designed to--
            ``(1) identify owners and renters of properties in 
        communities that participate in the national flood insurance 
        program, including owners of residential and commercial 
        properties;
            ``(2) notify such owners and renters when their properties 
        become included in, or when they are excluded from, an area 
        having special flood hazards and the effect of such inclusion 
        or exclusion on the applicability of the mandatory flood 
        insurance purchase requirement under section 102 of the Flood 
        Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a) to such 
        properties;
            ``(3) educate such owners and renters regarding the flood 
        risk and reduction of this risk in their community, including 
        the continued flood risks to areas that are no longer subject 
        to the flood insurance mandatory purchase requirement;
            ``(4) educate such owners and renters regarding the 
        benefits and costs of maintaining or acquiring flood insurance, 
        including, where applicable, lower-cost preferred risk policies 
        under this title for such properties and the contents of such 
        properties; and
            ``(5) encouraging such owners and renters to maintain or 
        acquire such coverage.
    ``(c) Cost Sharing Requirement.--
            ``(1) In general.--In any fiscal year, the Director may not 
        provide a grant under this section to a local governmental 
        agency in an amount exceeding 3 times the amount that the 
        agency certifies, as the Director shall require, that the 
        agency will contribute from non-Federal funds to be used with 
        grant amounts only for carrying out activities described in 
        subsection (b).
            ``(2) Non-federal funds.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        the term `non-Federal funds' includes State or local government 
        agency amounts, in-kind contributions, any salary paid to staff 
        to carry out the eligible activities of the grant recipient, 
        the value of the time and services contributed by volunteers to 
        carry out such services (at a rate determined by the Director), 
        and the value of any donated material or building and the value 
        of any lease on a building.
    ``(d) Administrative Cost Limitation.--Notwithstanding subsection 
(b), the Director may use not more than 5 percent of amounts made 
available under subsection (g) to cover salaries, expenses, and other 
administrative costs incurred by the Director in making grants and 
provide assistance under this section.
    ``(e) Application and Selection.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Director shall provide for local 
        governmental agencies described in subsection (a) to submit 
        applications for grants under this section and for competitive 
        selection, based on criteria established by the Director, of 
        agencies submitting such applications to receive such grants.
            ``(2) Selection considerations.--In selecting applications 
        of local government agencies to receive grants under paragraph 
        (1), the Director shall consider--
                    ``(A) the existence of a cooperative technical 
                partner agreement between the local governmental agency 
                and the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
                    ``(B) the history of flood losses in the relevant 
                area that have occurred to properties, both inside and 
                outside the special flood hazards zones, which are not 
                covered by flood insurance coverage;
                    ``(C) the estimated percentage of high-risk 
                properties located in the relevant area that are not 
                covered by flood insurance;
                    ``(D) demonstrated success of the local 
                governmental agency in generating voluntary purchase of 
                flood insurance; and
                    ``(E) demonstrated technical capacity of the local 
                governmental agency for outreach to individual property 
                owners.
    ``(f) Direct Outreach by FEMA.--In each fiscal year that amounts 
for grants are made available pursuant to subsection (g), the Director 
may use not more than 50 percent of such amounts to carry out, and to 
enter into contracts with other entities to carry out, activities 
described in subsection (b) in areas that the Director determines have 
the most immediate need for such activities.
    ``(g) Reporting.--Each local government agency that receives a 
grant under this section, and each entity that receives amounts 
pursuant to subsection (f), shall submit a report to the Director, not 
later than 12 months after such amounts are first received, which shall 
include such information as the Director considers appropriate to 
describe the activities conducted using such amounts and the effect of 
such activities on the retention or acquisition of flood insurance 
coverage.
    ``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated for grants under this section $50,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2008 through 2012.''.
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