I 112th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 764 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 17, 2011 Mr. Alexander introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To ensure fair treatment of existing levees and flood control structures under the national flood insurance program.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Fair Treatment of Existing Levees Act of 2011.

2.

Treatment of existing levees and flood control structures

(a)

In general

The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency may not use the assumption that a currently existing levee or flood control structure does not exist to designate an area as having new flood hazards pursuant to issuance, revision, updating, or any other process to implement changes in flood insurance maps used under the national flood insurance program under the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), except in cases where no affected community notifies the Federal Emergency Management Agency of objections to the Administrator’s hazard modeling processes within 90 days of the enactment of this Act, and provided that prior to implementation of this provision the affected community provides sufficient notification to the affected residents that the level of protection provided by such levee or flood control structure is under review. (b)

Rule of construction

Nothing in this section shall be construed to establish, provide, or otherwise imply that the presence of an existing levee or flood control structure pursuant to subsection (a) thereby accredits such levee with providing protection from a flood of a level that has a 1-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any single year.