[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1679 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1679

  To amend the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to require that 
certain buildings and personal property be covered by flood insurance, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 25, 2015

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to require that 
certain buildings and personal property be covered by flood insurance, 
                        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 ``Flood Insurance Market Parity and 
Modernization Act''.

SEC. 2. PRIVATE FLOOD INSURANCE.

    (a) Mandatory Purchase Requirement.--
            (1) In general.--Section 102 of the Flood Disaster 
        Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a) is amended by striking 
        ``Sec. 102. (a)'' and all that follows through subsection (b) 
        and inserting the following:
    ``Sec. 102. (a) After the expiration of sixty days following the 
date of enactment of this Act, no Federal officer or agency shall 
approve any financial assistance for acquisition or construction 
purposes for use in any area that has been identified by the 
Administrator as an area having special flood hazards and in which the 
sale of flood insurance has been made available under the National 
Flood Insurance Act of 1968, unless the building or mobile home and any 
personal property to which such financial assistance relates is covered 
by flood insurance: Provided, That the amount of flood insurance (1) in 
the case of Federal flood insurance, is at least equal to the 
development or project cost of the building, mobile home, or personal 
property (less estimated land cost), the outstanding principal balance 
of the loan, or the maximum limit of Federal flood insurance coverage 
made available with respect to the particular type of property, 
whichever is less; or (2) in the case of private flood insurance, is at 
least equal to the development or project cost of the building, mobile 
home, or personal property (less estimated land cost), the outstanding 
principal balance of the loan, or the maximum limit of Federal flood 
insurance coverage made available with respect to the particular 
property, whichever is less: Provided further, That if the financial 
assistance provided is in the form of a loan or an insurance or 
guaranty of a loan, the amount of flood insurance required need not 
exceed the outstanding principal balance of the loan and need not be 
required beyond the term of the loan. The requirement of maintaining 
flood insurance shall apply during the life of the property, regardless 
of transfer of ownership of such property.
    ``(b) Requirement for Mortgage Loans.--
            ``(1) Regulated lending institutions.--Each Federal entity 
        for lending regulation (after consultation and coordination 
        with the Financial Institutions Examination Council established 
        under the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council 
        Act of 1974) shall by regulation direct regulated lending 
        institutions not to make, increase, extend, or renew any loan 
        secured by improved real estate or a mobile home located or to 
        be located in an area that has been identified by the 
        Administrator as an area having special flood hazards and in 
        which flood insurance has been made available under the 
        National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, unless the building or 
        mobile home and any personal property securing such loan is 
        covered for the term of the loan by flood insurance: Provided, 
        That the amount of flood insurance (A) in the case of Federal 
        flood insurance, is at least equal to the outstanding principal 
        balance of the loan or the maximum limit of Federal flood 
        insurance coverage made available with respect to the 
        particular type of property, whichever is less; or (B) in the 
        case of private flood insurance, is at least equal to the 
        outstanding principal balance of the loan or the maximum limit 
        of Federal flood insurance coverage made available with respect 
        to the particular type of property, whichever is less.
            ``(2) Federal agency lenders.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A Federal agency lender may not 
                make, increase, extend, or renew any loan secured by 
                improved real estate or a mobile home located or to be 
                located in an area that has been identified by the 
                Administrator as an area having special flood hazards 
                and in which flood insurance has been made available 
                under the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, unless 
                the building or mobile home and any personal property 
                securing such loan is covered for the term of the loan 
                by flood insurance in accordance with paragraph (1). 
                Each Federal agency lender may issue any regulations 
                necessary to carry out this paragraph. Such regulations 
                shall be consistent with and substantially identical to 
                the regulations issued under paragraph (1).
                    ``(B) Requirement to accept flood insurance.--Each 
                Federal agency lender shall accept flood insurance as 
                satisfaction of the flood insurance coverage 
                requirement under subparagraph (A) if the flood 
                insurance coverage meets the requirements for coverage 
                under that subparagraph.
            ``(3) Government-sponsored enterprises for housing.--The 
        Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan 
        Mortgage Corporation shall implement procedures reasonably 
        designed to ensure that, for any loan that is--
                    ``(A) secured by improved real estate or a mobile 
                home located in an area that has been identified, at 
                the time of the origination of the loan or at any time 
                during the term of the loan, by the Administrator as an 
                area having special flood hazards and in which flood 
                insurance is available under the National Flood 
                Insurance Act of 1968, and
                    ``(B) purchased by such entity,
        the building or mobile home and any personal property securing 
        the loan is covered for the term of the loan by flood insurance 
        in the amount provided in paragraph (1). The Federal National 
        Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 
        Corporation shall accept flood insurance as satisfaction of the 
        flood insurance coverage requirement under paragraph (1) if the 
        flood insurance coverage provided meets the requirements for 
        coverage under that paragraph.
            ``(4) Applicability.--
                    ``(A) Existing coverage.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), paragraph (1) shall apply on the date 
                of enactment of the Riegle Community Development and 
                Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994.
                    ``(B) New coverage.--Paragraphs (2) and (3) shall 
                apply only with respect to any loan made, increased, 
                extended, or renewed after the expiration of the 1-year 
                period beginning on the date of enactment of the Riegle 
                Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 
                1994. Paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to any 
                loan made, increased, extended, or renewed by any 
                lender supervised by the Farm Credit Administration 
                only after the expiration of the period under this 
                subparagraph.
                    ``(C) Continued effect of regulations.--
                Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, 
                the regulations to carry out paragraph (1), as in 
                effect immediately before the date of enactment of the 
                Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement 
                Act of 1994, shall continue to apply until the 
                regulations issued to carry out paragraph (1) as 
                amended by section 522(a) of such Act take effect.
            ``(5) Rule of construction.--Except as otherwise specified, 
        any reference to flood insurance in this section shall be 
        considered to include Federal flood insurance and private flood 
        insurance.
            ``(6) Definitions.--
                    ``(A) Flood insurance.--In this section, the term 
                `flood insurance' means--
                            ``(i) Federal flood insurance; and
                            ``(ii) private flood insurance.
                    ``(B) Other definitions.--In this section--
                            ``(i) the term `Federal flood insurance' 
                        means an insurance policy made available under 
                        the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 
                        U.S.C. 4001 et seq.);
                            ``(ii) the term `private flood insurance' 
                        means an insurance policy that--
                                    ``(I) is issued by an insurance 
                                company that is--
                                            ``(aa) licensed, admitted, 
                                        or otherwise approved to engage 
                                        in the business of insurance in 
                                        the State in which the insured 
                                        building is located, by the 
                                        insurance regulator of that 
                                        State; or
                                            ``(bb) eligible as a 
                                        nonadmitted insurer to provide 
                                        insurance in the home State of 
                                        the insured, in accordance with 
                                        sections 521 through 527 of the 
                                        Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 
                                        and Consumer Protection Act (15 
                                        U.S.C. 8201 through 8206);
                                    ``(II) is issued by an insurance 
                                company that is not otherwise 
                                disapproved as a surplus lines insurer 
                                by the insurance regulator of the State 
                                in which the property to be insured is 
                                located; and
                                    ``(III) provides flood insurance 
                                coverage that complies with the laws 
                                and regulations of that State; and
                            ``(iii) the term `State' means any State of 
                        the United States, the District of Columbia, 
                        the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the 
                        Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, 
                        and American Samoa.''.
            (2) Technical and conforming amendment.--Section 
        1364(a)(3)(C) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 
        U.S.C. 4104a(a)(3)(C)) is amended by striking ``, as required 
        under section 102(b)(6) of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 
        1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(6))''.
    (b) Effect of Private Flood Insurance Coverage on Continuous 
Coverage Requirements.--Section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance 
Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(n) Effect of Private Flood Insurance Coverage on Continuous 
Coverage Requirements.--For purposes of applying any statutory, 
regulatory, or administrative continuous coverage requirement, 
including under section 1307(g)(1), the Administrator shall consider 
any period during which a property was continuously covered by private 
flood insurance (as defined in section 102(b)(6) of the Flood Disaster 
Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(6))) to be a period of 
continuous coverage.''.
                                 <all>