[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3315 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3315

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to allow the repair, 
    expansion, and construction, without elevation, of agricultural 
    structures located in special flood hazard zones, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 23, 2013

Mr. LaMalfa (for himself, Mr. Garamendi, Ms. Matsui, Mr. McNerney, and 
 Mr. Denham) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to allow the repair, 
    expansion, and construction, without elevation, of agricultural 
    structures located in special flood hazard zones, 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 ``Agricultural Structures Building Act 
of 2013''.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE AND LOCAL LAND USE CONTROLS.

    Subsection (a) of section 1315 of the National Flood Insurance Act 
of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4022(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Allowable local variances for certain agricultural 
        structures.--
                    ``(A) Requirement.--Notwithstanding any other 
                provision of this Act, the land use and control 
                measures adopted pursuant to paragraph (1) may not, for 
                purposes of such paragraph, be considered to be 
                inadequate or inconsistent with the comprehensive 
                criteria for land management and use under section 1361 
                because such measures provide that, in the case of any 
                agricultural structure that is located in an area 
                having special flood hazards, a variance in accordance 
                with subparagraph (B) may be granted, and the 
                Administrator may not suspend a community from 
                participation in the national flood insurance program, 
                or place such a community on probation under such 
                program, because such land use and control measures 
                provide for such a variance.
                    ``(B) Variance; considerations.--A variance in 
                accordance with this subparagraph is a variance, 
                granted by an appropriate official of the community, 
                from compliance with such land use and control measures 
                that allows for the repair, expansion, or construction 
                of such agricultural structure without elevation of the 
                structure, but only after a determination by such 
                appropriate official that--
                            ``(i) in the case of new construction, the 
                        agricultural structure is subject to base flood 
                        elevations of at least three feet;
                            ``(ii) in the case of existing structures, 
                        it is not practicable to elevate the repaired 
                        or expanded structure to the base flood 
                        elevation;
                            ``(iii) the structure is located within 5 
                        miles of active agricultural operations; and
                            ``(iv) not more than one claim payment 
                        exceeding $1,000 has been made for the 
                        structure under flood insurance coverage under 
                        this title within any period of 10 consecutive 
                        years.
                    ``(C) Definition of agricultural structure.--For 
                purposes of this paragraph, the term `agricultural 
                structure' means any agricultural product processing 
                facility, agricultural product storage facility, shed, 
                farmhouse, barn, or other structure which has as its 
                primary purpose supporting the agricultural 
                industry.''.

SEC. 3. PREMIUM RATES.

    Section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
4015) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(j) Premium Rates for Certain Agricultural Structures With 
Variances.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the 
chargeable premium rate for coverage under this title for any structure 
provided a variance pursuant to section 1315(a)(3) shall be the rate 
that otherwise would apply to such structure if the structure had been 
repaired, expanded, or constructed before the establishment of the 
special flood hazard area.''.
                                 <all>