Community Flood Resilience Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9056 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9056

To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
 to allow certain recipients of the Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant,
    and other grants, to be used for the payment of premiums for a
   community-based, parametric flood insurance policy, and for other
                               purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 29, 2026

  Mr. Garbarino (for himself and Mr. Meeks) introduced the following
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
 to allow certain recipients of the Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant,
    and other grants, to be used for the payment of premiums for a
   community-based, parametric flood insurance policy, 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 ``Community Flood Resilience Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) many communities with significant flood risk continue
        to experience chronically low participation in the National
        Flood Insurance Program, leaving households and small
        businesses financially vulnerable to flood events and
        increasing reliance on post-disaster Federal assistance;
            (2) there is a need to promote greater engagement with
        private flood insurance markets and improve insurance awareness
        in communities with elevated flood risk and historically low
        flood insurance take-up rates;
            (3) community-based parametric flood insurance has the
        potential to provide faster, more transparent, and more
        flexible financial protection at a community level and can
        serve as a supplemental form of risk transfer alongside
        existing flood insurance coverage; and
            (4) community-based parametric flood insurance may help
        strengthen the financial resilience of communities undertaking
        flood mitigation and resilience investments by providing an
        additional layer of protection for households and small
        businesses.

SEC. 3. USE OF FLOOD MITIGATION ASSISTANCE GRANT AMOUNTS FOR PREMIUMS
              OF COMMUNITY-BASED, PARAMETRIC FLOOD INSURANCE.

    (a) Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Eligible Use of Funds.--
            (1) In general.--For the period that is 5 years after the
        date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the
        Federal Emergency Management Agency (hereafter referred to as
        the ``Administrator'') shall permit any State or community that
        receives flood mitigation assistance under section 1366 of the
        National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104c) to use
        not more than 15 percent of such assistance amounts each year
        for the payment of premiums for a community-based, parametric
        flood insurance policy that--
                    (A) is offered through the private sector;
                    (B) specifies objective, predefined trigger
                conditions for payout based on measurable flood-related
                metrics;
                    (C) includes timelines and disbursement terms
                agreed upon at the time of underwriting; and
                    (D) provides that funds shall be disbursed to the
                participating community promptly upon verification that
                a triggering condition has been met, without the need
                for post-event damage assessment or additional
                administrative approval by the Administrator.
            (2) Report.--In each year that a State or community that
        uses assistance amounts as described in paragraph (1), such
        State or community shall submit to the Administrator a report
        that describes how such State or community--
                    (A) promotes National Flood Insurance Program
                policy enrollment;
                    (B) educates members of the community about the
                limitations community-based, parametric flood
                insurance;
                    (C) encourages flood-risk mitigation;
                    (D) uses community based, parametric flood
                insurance to--
                            (i) support households and small
                        businesses; and
                            (ii) contribute to broader flood resilience
                        and insurance awareness efforts; and
                    (E) encourages flood insurance take-up by improving
                public awareness of flood risk and promoting
                participation in either the National Flood Insurance
                Program or a private flood insurance offering.
            (3) Sunset.--The permission described in paragraph (1)
        shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date of
        the enactment of this Act, absent a reauthorization by the
        Congress.
    (b) Promotion of Community-Based Flood Insurance.--The
Administrator shall--
            (1) conduct outreach to communities to spread awareness
        with respect to community-based, parametric flood insurance
        policies and the eligible use described in subsection (a); and
            (2) notwithstanding any other provision of law, allow for
        the use of other grant amounts under the authority of the
        Administrator for the payment of premiums of community-based,
        parametric flood insurance policies by grant recipients for the
        5 year period after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (c) Disclosure Required.--Any community based, parametric flood
insurance policy for which premiums are paid as described in subsection
(a) shall include a written dislcosure that explains--
            (1) the specific trigger conditions under which a payout
        will and will not be made;
            (2) the circumstances under which a triggering event may
        occur but individual households or small businesses within the
        community may not receive financial relief (commonly referred
        to as the ``basis risk''); and
            (3) how the parametric policy interacts with and differs
        from flood insurance provided under the National Flood
        Insurance Program.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment
of this Act, and on the dates that are 3 and 5 years after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the
Congress a report that contains--
            (1) an analysis of any changes to the number of National
        Flood Insurance policies in communities that use flood
        mitigation assistance grant amounts as described in section
        1366(c)(3)(k) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 and
        communities that do not use such grant amounts as described in
        such section;
            (2) a description of the product types of community-based,
        parametric flood insurance policies that communities use,
        including the number of households covered by such policies;
            (3) an analysis of the timeliness and effectiveness of
        claim payouts through community-based, parametric flood
        insurance policies for which premiums are paid for as described
        in such section;
            (4) an assessment of outreach and flood insurance awareness
        efforts; and
            (5) any legislative recommendations for the continuation or
        expansion of community-based, parametric flood insurance
        policies.
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