[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1558 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>





                                                 Union Calendar No. 196
115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1558

                          [Report No. 115-276]

 To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure community 
accountability for areas repetitively damaged by floods, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 16, 2017

Mr. Royce of California (for himself and Mr. Blumenauer) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

                            August 15, 2017

  Additional sponsors: Mr. Issa, Mrs. Mimi Walters of California, Mr. 
                      Rohrabacher, and Mr. Messer

                            August 15, 2017

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
 [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 
                               16, 2017]


_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure community 
accountability for areas repetitively damaged by floods, 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 ``Repeatedly Flooded Communities 
Preparation Act''.

SEC. 2. COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPETITIVELY FLOODED AREAS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act 
of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4102) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection:
    ``(e) Community Accountability for Repetitively Damaged Areas.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Administrator shall, by regulation, 
        require any covered community (as such term is defined in 
        paragraph (5))--
                    ``(A) to identify the areas within the community 
                where properties described in paragraph (5)(B) or 
                flood-damaged facilities are located to determine areas 
                repeatedly damaged by floods and to assess, with 
                assistance from the Administrator, the continuing risks 
                to such areas;
                    ``(B) to develop a community-specific plan for 
                mitigating continuing flood risks to such repetitively 
                flooded areas and to submit such plan and plan updates 
                to the Administrator at appropriate intervals;
                    ``(C) to implement such plans;
                    ``(D) to make such plan, plan updates, and reports 
                on progress in reducing flood risk available to the 
                public, subject to section 552a of title 5, United 
                States Code.
            ``(2) Incorporation into existing plans.--Plans developed 
        pursuant to paragraph (1) may be incorporated into mitigation 
        plans developed under section 1366 of this Act (42 U.S.C. 
        4104c) and hazard mitigation plans developed under section 322 
        of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165).
            ``(3) Assistance to communities.--
                    ``(A) Data.--To assist communities in preparation 
                of plans required under paragraph (1), the 
                Administrator shall, upon request, provide covered 
                communities with appropriate data regarding the 
                property addresses and dates of claims associated with 
                insured properties within the community.
                    ``(B) Mitigation grants.--In making determinations 
                regarding financial assistance under the authorities of 
                this Act, the Administrator may consider the extent to 
                which a community has complied with this subsection and 
                is working to remedy problems with addressing 
                repeatedly flooded areas.
            ``(4) Sanctions.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Administrator shall, by 
                regulations issued in accordance with the procedures 
                established under section 553 of title 5, United States 
                Code, regarding substantive rules, provide appropriate 
                sanctions for covered communities that fail to comply 
                with the requirements under this subsection or to make 
                sufficient progress in reducing the flood risks to 
                areas in the community that are repeatedly damaged by 
                floods.
                    ``(B) Notice.--Before imposing any sanction 
                pursuant to this paragraph, the Administrator shall 
                provide the covered community involved with notice of 
                the non-compliance that could result in the imposition 
                of sanctions, which shall include recommendations for 
                actions to bring the covered community into compliance.
                    ``(C) Considerations.--In determining appropriate 
                sanctions to impose under this paragraph, the 
                Administrator shall consider the resources available to 
                the covered community involved, including Federal 
                funding, the portion of the covered community that lies 
                within an area having special flood hazards, and other 
                factors that make it difficult for the covered 
                community to conduct mitigation activities for existing 
                flood-prone structures.
            ``(5) Covered community.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        the term `covered community' means a community--
                    ``(A) that is participating, pursuant to section 
                1315, in the national flood insurance program; and
                    ``(B) within which are located--
                            ``(i) 50 or more repetitive loss structures 
                        for each of which, during any 10-year period, 
                        two or more claims for payments under flood 
                        insurance coverage have been made with a 
                        cumulative amount exceeding $1,000;
                            ``(ii) 5 or more severe repetitive loss 
                        structures (as such term is defined in section 
                        1366(h)) for which mitigation activities 
                        meeting the standards for approval under 
                        section 1366(c)(2)(A) have not been conducted; 
                        or
                            ``(iii) a public facility or a private 
                        nonprofit facility (as such terms are as 
                        defined in section 102 of the Robert T. 
                        Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
                        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)), that has 
                        received assistance for repair, restoration, 
                        reconstruction, or replacement under section 
                        406 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
                        and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172) 
                        in connection with more than one flooding event 
                        in the most recent 10-year period.
            ``(6) Repetitive-loss structure.--For purposes of this 
        subsection, the term `repetitive loss structure' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 1370 (42 U.S.C. 4121).
            ``(7) Reports to congress.--Not later than the expiration 
        of the 6-year period beginning upon the date of the enactment 
        of this subsection, and not less than every 2 years thereafter, 
        the Administrator shall submit a report to the Congress 
        regarding the progress in implementing plans developed pursuant 
        to paragraph (1)(B).''.
    (b) Regulations.--The Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency shall issue regulations necessary to carry out 
subsection (e) of section 1361 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 
1968, as added by the amendment made by subsection (a) of this section, 
not later than the expiration of the 12-month period that begins on the 
date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. MONTHLY INSTALLMENT PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS.

    (a) Authority.--Subsection (g) of section 1308 of the National 
Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015(g)) is amended--
            (1) by striking the subsection designation and all that 
        follows through ``With respect'' and inserting the following:
    ``(g) Frequency of Premium Collection.--
            ``(1) Options.--With respect''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Monthly installment payment of premiums.--
                    ``(A) Exemption from rulemaking.--Until such time 
                as the Administrator promulgates regulations 
                implementing paragraph (1) of this subsection, the 
                Administrator may adopt policies and procedures, 
                notwithstanding any other provisions of law and in 
                alignment and consistent with existing industry escrow 
                and servicing standards, necessary to implement such 
                paragraph without undergoing notice and comment 
                rulemaking and without conducting regulatory analyses 
                otherwise required by statute, regulation, or Executive 
                order.
                    ``(B) Pilot program.--The Administrator may 
                initially implement paragraph (1) of this subsection as 
                a pilot program that provides for a gradual phase-in of 
                implementation.
                    ``(C) Policyholder protection.--The Administrator 
                may--
                            ``(i) during the 12-month period beginning 
                        on the date of the enactment of this 
                        subparagraph, charge policyholders choosing to 
                        pay premiums in monthly installments a fee for 
                        the total cost of the monthly collection of 
                        premiums not to exceed $25 annually; and
                            ``(ii) after the expiration of the 12-month 
                        period referred to in clause (i), adjust the 
                        fee charged annually to cover the total cost of 
                        the monthly collection of premiums as 
                        determined by the report submitted pursuant to 
                        subparagraph (D).
                    ``(D) Report.--Not later than six months after the 
                date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
                General shall submit a report to the Committee on 
                Financial Services of the House of Representatives and 
                the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of 
                the Senate, that sets forth all of the costs associated 
                with the monthly payment of premiums, including any up-
                front costs associated with infrastructure development, 
                the impact on all policyholders including those that 
                exercise the option to pay monthly and those that do 
                not, options for minimizing the costs, particularly the 
                costs to policyholders, and the feasibility of adopting 
                practices that serve to minimize costs to policyholders 
                such as automatic payments and electronic payments.
                    ``(E) Annual reports.--On an annual basis, the 
                Administrator shall report to the Committee on 
                Financial Services of the House of Representatives and 
                the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of 
                the Senate the ongoing costs associated with the 
                monthly payment of premiums.''.
    (b) Implementation.--Clause (ii) of section 1307(a)(1)(B) of the 
National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(1)(B)(ii)) is 
amended by inserting before ``any administrative expenses'' the 
following: ``the costs associated with the monthly collection of 
premiums provided for in section 1308(g) (42 U.S.C. 4015(g)), but only 
if such costs exceed the operating costs and allowances set forth in 
clause (i) of this subparagraph, and''.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 196

115th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                               H. R. 1558

                          [Report No. 115-276]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure community 
accountability for areas repetitively damaged by floods, and for other 
                               purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                            August 15, 2017

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed