Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007

FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - September 27, 2007)

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Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

The Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.

The text of the amendment is as follows:

Amendment No. 9 offered by Mr. Costello:

Subsection (k) of section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101), as added by section 22(a) of the bill, is amended by redesignating paragraph (8) as paragraph (9).

Subsection (k) of section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101), as added by section 22(a) of the bill, is amended by inserting after paragraph (7) the following new paragraph:

``(8) USE OF MAPS FOR RATES.--The Director shall not adjust the chargeable premium rate for flood insurance under this title based on an updated national flood insurance program rate map or require the purchase of flood insurance for a property not subject to such a requirement of purchase prior to the updating of such national flood insurance program rate map until an updated national flood insurance program rate map is completed for the entire district of the Corps of Engineers affected by the map, as determined by the district engineer for such district.''.

The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 683, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello) and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes.

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I thank the Rules Committee for making this amendment in order and thank Chairman Frank as well. My amendment is a commonsense, simple amendment that will bring fairness to FEMA's remapping process. If my amendment is adopted, FEMA would not be able to adjust premium rates or require the purchase of flood insurance until all remapping has been completed for an entire district of the Corps of Engineers affected by the remapping.

Under the current system, one geographic area of a floodplain or watershed can be updated, while another geographic area of the same floodplain or watershed may not be remapped for a few years.

If you look at the St. Louis area, preliminary maps will be available for review in December of this year for the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, but will not be available for the Missouri side of the river for two to three years. The remapping process should not be stopped, but remapping should be implemented for the entire floodplain or watershed together, as opposed to the current piecemeal approach.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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