Small Municipality Flood Relief Act of 2015

Small Municipality Flood Relief Act of 2015

This bill amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to release a local government from certain land restrictions imposed on a parcel under the hazard mitigation program for recipients of acquisition or relocation project assistance if:

• the local government submits to the state, more than five years after the closeout of the acquisition or relocation project, a request for such release;
• on the date of the request, the parcel is not in an area designated by FEMA as having special flood hazards;
• the local government certifies that no coercion took place against the original property owner in acquiring the parcel;
• the state in which the parcel is located approves the request and submits to FEMA a recommendation for its approval;
• the local government repays FEMA for the amount of hazard mitigation assistance received for the acquisition or relocation project or substitutes a different parcel that is at least twice as large as, and subject to the same restrictions being released for, the original parcel; and
• FEMA gives final approval to the request.