Rep. Driehaus Introduces the Fairness in Flood Mapping Act

Press Release

Responding to concerns over new Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) flood maps, Representative Steve Driehaus today announced that he has introduced the Fairness in Flood Mapping Act, which would protect homeowners who have been incorrectly added to the flood zone. After meeting with residents and community leaders in Harrison, Ohio last week, Rep. Driehaus introduced this legislation to ensure that property owners, lessees, and communities who successfully petition for the exclusion of their properties from a flood zone will not have to bear the associated costs. Rep. Driehaus's legislation would make the authorization to reimburse eligible parties retroactive to fiscal year 2003, when the current map modernization effort began.

"If a homeowner or a community can demonstrate that FEMA incorrectly added properties to the flood zone, then FEMA should bear the cost associated with resolving that error. My legislation would ensure that those people who face this dilemma through no fault of their own don't get stuck with the bill," said Rep. Driehaus. "We need to make sure that FEMA is working and communicating with local communities so that implementing the new flood maps is done as fairly and transparently as possible. I will continue to work with Harrison and other areas affected by these new maps in order to ease this process."

The Fairness in Flood Mapping Act (HR 5722) would authorize the Administrator of FEMA to reimburse property owners, lessees, and communities for the engineering and surveying expenses that they incurred in order to file for a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) if they ultimately are successful in petitioning the exclusion of their property from a flood zone between fiscal year 2003 to the present, and in the future. Under current law, FEMA is authorized to reimburse for engineering and surveying expenses incurred prior to the enactment of a new flood map. However, there is no process for individuals to obtain reimbursements for petitions following the enactment of a flood map.

More than 60,000 properties throughout the United States have been removed from flood zones between 2005 and 2009 as a result of the LOMA process.

Source