[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3161 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3161
To establish a pilot program to enhance the mapping of urban flooding
and associated property damage and the availability of such mapped data
to homeowners, businesses, and localities to help understand and
mitigate the risk of such flooding, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 12, 2021
Mr. Quigley introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the
Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a pilot program to enhance the mapping of urban flooding
and associated property damage and the availability of such mapped data
to homeowners, businesses, and localities to help understand and
mitigate the risk of such flooding, 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 Mapping Modernization and
Homeowner Empowerment Pilot Program Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. FLOOD MAPPING MODERNIZATION AND HOMEOWNER EMPOWERMENT PILOT
PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Administrator of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency shall carry out a pilot program to make grants to
units of local government to enhance the mapping of urban flooding and
associated property damage and the availability of such mapped data to
homeowners, businesses, and units of local government to enable them to
minimize the risk of such flooding.
(b) Objectives.--Amounts from grants made under the pilot program
under this section may be used only to carry out activities to meet the
following objectives:
(1) To develop a methodology for assessing urban flood risk
through the deployment of technology-based mapping tools that
are easily understandable by the public and effectively convey
information regarding the level of flood risk.
(2) To provide structure-specific projections of annual
chance flood frequency.
(3) To provide structure-based flood-risk assessments.
(4) To provide urban flood-risk mitigation program design.
(5) To incorporate information regarding climate trends
into urban flooding risk assessments.
(6) To make the information described in this subsection
publicly available on the internet through a web-based portal
so as to increase transparency regarding homeowner flood risks.
(c) Eligible Recipients.--
(1) In general.--Grants under the pilot program under this
section may be made only to units of general local government
located in a urbanized areas, as such term is used by the
Bureau of the Census of the Department of Commerce, having
populations exceeding 50,000 or to stormwater management
authorities of such units of general local government.
(2) One-time grants.--A grant under the pilot program under
this section may not be made to--
(A) any unit of general local governmental, or
stormwater management authority of a unit of general
government, that has previously received a grant under
the pilot program;
(B) any unit of general local government if the
stormwater management agency for such unit has
previously received a grant under the pilot program; or
(C) any stormwater management agency of a unit of
general local government if such unit has previously
received a grant under the pilot program.
(3) Treatment of stormwater management authorities.--In the
case of a stormwater management authority that operates with
respect to more than one unit of general local government, the
application of such authority shall be considered for purposes
of paragraph (2) of this subsection and subsections (e), (f),
and (g)(1) to be made for the largest unit of general local
government for which such authority operates. The preceding
sentence shall not limit the ability of such authority to carry
out activities under the demonstration project in any other
jurisdictions or unit of local government with respect to which
the authority operates.
(d) Applications.--To be eligible for a grant under this section a
unit of general local government or stormwater management agency shall
submit to the Administrator an application in such form and containing
such information as the Administrator shall require.
(e) Selection of Recipients.--
(1) Annual selection.--Subject to paragraph (2) and to the
submission of approvable applications, in each fiscal year for
which amounts are made available for grants under the pilot
program under this section the Administrator shall select, from
among applications submitted under subsection (d) for such
fiscal year, 3 units of general government or stormwater
management authorities to receive grants under the pilot
program under this section.
(2) Aggregate limit.--Subject only to the submission of
approvable applications, the Administrator shall select, in the
aggregate over the entire duration of the pilot program under
this section, 12 units of general government or stormwater
management authorities to receive grants under the pilot
program, as follows:
(A) Tier 1.--Three of the applicants selected shall
be units of general local government, or stormwater
management authorities for such units, having a
population exceeding 800,000, as follows:
(i) Pelagic coastal city.--One shall be a
unit of general local government, or stormwater
authority for such a unit, that is a pelagic
unit.
(ii) Non-pelagic coastal city.--One shall
be unit of general local government, or
stormwater authority for such a unit, that is a
coastal unit, but not a pelagic unit.
(iii) Non-coastal city.--One shall be unit
of general local government, or stormwater
authority for such a unit, that is not a
coastal unit.
(B) Tier 2.--Six of the applicants selected shall
be units of general local government, or stormwater
management authorities for such units, having a
population exceeding 200,000 but not exceeding 800,000,
as follows:
(i) Coastal cities.--Three shall be units
of general local government, or stormwater
management authorities for such units, that are
coastal units.
(ii) Non-coastal cities.--Three shall be
units of general local government, or
stormwater management authorities for such
units, that are not coastal units.
(C) Tier 3.--Three of the applicants selected shall
be units of general local government, or stormwater
management authorities for such units, having a
population exceeding 50,000 but not exceeding 200,000.
(f) Priority.--
(1) In general.--The Administrator shall select applicants
for grants under the pilot program under this section based on
the extent to which their applications will achieve the
objectives set forth in subsection (b).
(2) Tiers 2 and 3.--In selecting applicants to receive
grants under the pilot program under this section pursuant to
subparagraphs (B) and (C) of subsection (e)(2), the
Administrator shall give priority to applicants--
(A) that are highly vulnerable to sea level rise;
(B) within which are located a military
installation or other facility relating to national
security concerns; or
(C) that have a population that is highly
vulnerable to urban flooding and have an uneven
capacity for flood mitigation and response efforts
resulting from socioeconomic factors.
(g) Amount.--
(1) Considerations.--In determining the amount of grant
under the pilot program under this section, the Administrator
shall consider the population of the grant recipient, which may
be considered in terms of the tier under subsection (e)(2) of
the recipient.
(2) Federal share.--The amount of a grant under the pilot
program under this section may not exceed 75 percent of the
total cost of the activities under subsection (b) to be carried
out using the grant amounts.
(h) Duration.--The Administrator shall require each recipient of a
grant under the pilot program under this section to complete the
activities under subsection (b) to be carried out using the grant
amounts before the expiration of the 18-month period beginning upon the
initial receipt of grant amounts under the pilot program.
(i) Use of Census Data.--The Administrator shall make all
determinations under the pilot program regarding population using the
most recent available data from the decennial census.
(j) Grantee Reports to FEMA.--Each recipient of a grant under the
pilot program under this section shall, not later than the expiration
of the 30-month period beginning upon the initial receipt of any such
grant amounts, submit to the Administrator a report that describes--
(1) the activities carried out with amounts from the grant;
(2) how the activities carried out with such grant amounts
have met the objectives described in subsection (b); and
(3) any lessons learned in carrying out such activities and
any recommendations for future mapping modernization efforts by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(k) Biennial Reports by FEMA.--Not later than the expiration of the
24-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, and
not later than the expiration of each successive 24-month period
thereafter until the completion of all activities carried out with
amounts from grants under the pilot program under this section, the
Administrator shall submit to the Congress and make available to the
public on an internet website a report that--
(1) describes--
(A) the progress of the activities carried out with
amounts from such grants; and
(B) the effectiveness of technology-based mapping
tools used in carrying out the activities described in
subparagraph (A); and
(2) with respect to the final report that the Administrator
is required to submit under this subsection, includes
recommendations to the Congress and the executive branch of the
Federal Government for implementing strategies, practices, and
technologies to mitigate the effects of urban flooding.
(l) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that, because
the pilot program is limited with respect to scope and resources,
communities that participate in the pilot program should acknowledge
that the most successful efforts to mitigate the effects of urban
flooding--
(1) take a structural-based mitigation approach with
respect to construction, which includes--
(A) recognizing any post-storm damage that may
occur; and
(B) pursuing designs that proactively minimize
future flood damage;
(2) make individuals in the community aware, through any
cost-effective and available means of education, of the best
approaches regarding the construction of properties that are
able to survive floods, which reduces the cost of future
repairs; and
(3) encourage home and property owners to consider the
measures described in paragraphs (1) and (2), which are the
most cost-effective and prudent ways to reduce the impact of
flooding, when constructing or renovating building components.
(m) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following
definitions shall apply:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(2) Coastal.--The term ``coastal'' means, with respect to a
unit of general local government, that the unit borders a body
of water that--
(A) exceeds 2,000 square miles in size; and
(B) is not a river.
(3) Pelagic.--The term ``pelagic'' means, with respect to a
unit of general local government, that the unit is a coastal
unit and the body of water that the unit borders is an ocean or
other large, open body of water (including bays and gulfs) that
empties into an ocean.
(4) Urban flooding.--
(A) In general.--The term ``urban flooding'' means
the inundation of property in a built environment,
particularly in more densely populated areas, caused
either by falling rain collecting on impervious
surfaces or increasing the levels of nearby water
bodies and overwhelming the capacity of drainage
systems, such as storm sewers, including--
(i) situations in which stormwater enters
buildings through windows, doors, or other
openings;
(ii) water backup through sewer pipes,
showers, toilets, sinks, and floor drains;
(iii) seepage through walls and floors;
(iv) the accumulation of water on property
or public rights-of-way; and
(v) the overflow from water bodies, such as
rivers, lakes, and oceans.
(B) Exclusion.--Such term does not include flooding
in undeveloped or agricultural areas.
(n) Funding.--There is authorized to be appropriated for grants
under the pilot program under this section--
(1) $1,200,000 for fiscal year 2022; and
(2) $4,300,000 for fiscal year 2023, to remain available
through 2025.
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