Sponsors (2)
The bill directs data-driven identification and planning to reduce repeated flood losses and increases federal oversight, but it creates compliance-related burdens and sanctions that could cut off insurance or aid for under-resourced communities and raises privacy concerns for property owners.
Communities and residents in repeatedly flooded areas will get better-targeted flood-risk reduction because local governments must identify repeatedly flooded areas and create mitigation plans, supported by FEMA-provided address-and-claim-date NFIP data to help target projects.
Homeowners and renters in repeatedly flooded areas could see reduced future flood damage as those community mitigation projects are implemented.
Taxpayers and local governments gain greater federal oversight and transparency through periodic congressional reporting on mitigation progress, improving accountability and enabling monitoring of outcomes over time.
Homeowners and renters in communities that fail to comply risk suspension or probation from the National Flood Insurance Program, potentially losing access to federal flood insurance and exposing households to large financial losses.
Local governments—especially low-resource jurisdictions—face new administrative and financial burdens to prepare, submit, and implement repeated flood-mitigation plans, straining budgets and staff capacity.
Conditioning federal financial assistance on plan compliance could reduce aid to struggling communities that lack capacity to comply, slowing recovery and harming low-income residents.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires FEMA to create a program making repeatedly flooded NFIP communities develop, publish, and implement mitigation plans and allows FEMA to consider compliance when allocating flood assistance.
Official title: Amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure community accountability for areas repeatedly damaged by floods, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 30, 2025 by Tim Scott · Last progress April 30, 2025
Creates a FEMA-run community accountability program for places with many repeatedly flooded properties or facilities that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Covered communities must identify repeatedly damaged areas, assess risk (with FEMA help), create and publish community-specific mitigation plans and progress reports, and implement those plans. FEMA must provide certain claims data on request, may factor compliance into future federal flood assistance decisions, may impose sanctions for noncompliance, issue regulations within one year, and report to Congress on progress starting within six years and then every two years.