Landrieu Presses Technical Mapping Advisory Council to Work with La. Stakeholders, Experts to Draw Accurate Flood Maps

Press Release

The chair of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today welcomed the establishment of the Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC) and pressed it to work with Louisiana stakeholders and flood experts after FEMA announced that none of the 20-members on the Council are from Louisiana. While the Senator supports the creation of TMAC, she believes that it is critical to have Louisiana experts and stakeholders intimately involved in the process to explain the unique topography and hydrology of the Louisiana coastal delta and help FEMA draw more accurate and reliable flood maps.

As TMAC stands itself up and decides what subject matter experts it needs in the coming weeks, Sen. Landrieu will press the Council to reach out to Louisiana officials and stakeholders during this time.

"The creation of Technical Mapping Advisory Council is an important element in helping FEMA draw more accurate and reliable flood maps. However, the Council must work with local leaders and flood experts in Louisiana who understand the unique topography of Louisiana's working coast and local levees in order to build a better and more affordable flood insurance program. Hard-working families should not pay high flood insurance rates based on maps that fail to recognize the levees that have protected their communities for decades. I will continue to press the Council to work with Louisiana as it figures out how to structure itself and address the fundamental flaws of FEMA's mapping process," Sen. Landrieu said.

TMAC will review FEMA's flood mapping efforts and prepare recommendations to the FEMA Administrator and includes representatives from federal, state, local and private sector organizations. Members serve either one to two year terms, at the discretion of the Administrator. TMAC's first public in-person meeting is scheduled for September 2014 and is one of three in-person meetings and three virtual meetings expected to occur during its first year.

The designated Federal members include:

The FEMA Administrator (or the designee thereof);

The Secretary of the Interior (or the designee thereof);

The Secretary of Agriculture (or the designee thereof); and

The Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (or the designee thereof).

The additional 16 members appointed by the FEMA Administrator consist of:

A member of a recognized professional surveying association or organization;

A member of a recognized professional mapping association or organization;

A member of a recognized professional engineering association or organization;

A member of a recognized professional association or organization representing flood hazard determination firms;

A representative of the United States Geological Survey;

A representative of a recognized professional association or organization representing State geographic information;

A representative of State national flood insurance coordination offices;
A representative of the Corps of Engineers;

A member of a recognized regional flood and storm water management organization;

Two (2) representatives of different State government agencies that have entered into cooperating technical partnerships with the Administrator and have demonstrated the capability to produce flood insurance rate maps;

Two (2) representatives of different local government agencies that have entered into cooperating technical partnerships with the Administrator and have demonstrated the capability to produce flood insurance maps;

A member of a recognized floodplain management association or organization;

A member of a recognized risk management association or organization; and
A State mitigation officer.

TMAC Recommendations and Reports

TMAC is required to make recommendations to the FEMA Administrator on:

(1) How to improve, in a cost-effective manner, (a) the accuracy, general quality, ease of use, and distribution and dissemination of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) and risk data; and (b) the performance metrics and milestones required to effectively and efficiently map flood risk areas in the United States;

(2) Mapping standards and guidelines for (a) Flood Insurance Rate Maps; and (b) data accuracy, data quality, data currency, and data eligibility;

(3) How to maintain, on an ongoing basis, Flood Insurance Rate Maps and flood risk identification;

(4) Procedures for delegating mapping activities to State and local mapping partners;

(5) (a) Methods for improving interagency and intergovernmental coordination on flood mapping and flood risk determination; and (b) a funding strategy to leverage and coordinate budgets and expenditures across Federal agencies.

SEN. LANDRIEU'S ONGOING EFFORTS TO BE A BETTER, MORE AFFORDABLE FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM

As part of her ongoing efforts to build a more affordable National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), last month Sen. Landrieu announced that she included $100 million for FEMA to update and correct flawed flood maps across the country. The Senator reversed the President's $11-million cut to the program and added an additional $5 million after David Miller, the head of FEMA's NFIP, testified in May that most of the nation's flood maps are not accurate and reliable. When added to the $121 million in fees dedicated to mapping activities, the bill provides $221 million total for updating flood maps.

The funding is part of the bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security for FY2015 and keeps the promises that Sen. Landrieu made earlier this month in New Orleans to reverse the President's shortsighted cut to the program. Sen. Landrieu also announced that on July 23, 2014, she will conduct a hearing to hold FEMA accountable for implementing the Homeowner Flood Insurance Act accurately and efficiently.

Called the Paul Revere of flood insurance for her early warnings about the flawed 2012 Biggert-Waters flood insurance bill, Sen. Landrieu worked to build a bipartisan and geographically diverse coalition of senators to repeal the most pernicious provisions of the law and to return affordability as the centerpiece of the National Flood Insurance Program.

She was instrumental in adding additional affordability protections in the final version of the bill. One of those provisions, the 18 percent individual annual property cap, is being implemented currently to prevent skyrocketing year-over-year rate increases. This follows her announcement that the property sales trigger, which had frozen the real-estate market and threatened to rob middle class families of their wealth, is gone.

In May, Sen. Landrieu announced that FEMA fully repealed one of the most harmful provisions from Biggert-Waters that made it impossible for new buyers of homes or businesses to assume a property's existing flood insurance policy. The provision, repealed by the Home Flood Insurance Affordability Act, had frozen real estate markets throughout the nation and threatened to wipe out the equity thousands of middle class families had built in their homes.

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