Federal Emergency Management Agency October 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This interim rule implements certain provisions of the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 to provide new incentives for States and communities to mitigate the effects of flood damage to severe repetitive loss properties by creating the Severe Repetitive Loss program (SRL), and through reduced cost-share requirements in the existing Flood Mitigation Assistance program (FMA). In addition, the rule ensures that the FMA planning requirements are consistent with other applicable regulations, and streamlines the planning requirements for Indian tribal governments. It also describes requirements for the acquisition of property for open space with mitigation funds, including under SRL and FMA. Finally, this interim rule makes technical changes to clarify current practices and implements conforming amendments to reflect current authorities, including the recent change to the standard amount of authorized Hazard Mitigation Grant Program assistance.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is adopting as final, without substantive change, an interim rule that implements sections 553 and 554 of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994. Section 553 authorizes a flood mitigation assistance program through which FEMA is authorized to provide grants to States and communities for planning assistance and for mitigation projects that reduce the risk of flood damage to structures covered under contracts for flood insurance. Section 554 establishes the National Flood Mitigation Fund to fund assistance provided under section 553.

Base (1% annual chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and modified BFEs are made final for the communities listed below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that each community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Comments are requested on the proposed Base (1 percent annual- chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and proposed BFE modifications for the communities listed in the table below. The purpose of this notice is to seek general information and comment regarding these proposed regulatory flood elevations. The BFEs and modified BFEs are a part of the floodplain management measures that the community is required either to adopt or show evidence of having in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In addition, these elevations, once finalized, will be used by insurance agents, and others to calculate appropriate flood insurance premium rates for new buildings and the contents in those buildings.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has submitted the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The submission describes the nature of the information collection, the categories of respondents, the estimated burden (i.e., the time, effort and resources used by respondents to respond) and cost, and includes the actual data collection instruments FEMA will use. Title: National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program Application Form. OMB Number: 1660-0021. Abstract: The Executive Fire Officer Program (EFOP) annually receives more applications from qualified applicants than there are program slots available. Additional information is required to objectively evaluate the applicant's writing capability, professional accomplishments, and analytical ability. This information along with supporting documentation are used to select the most qualified participants for the EFOP. Affected Public: Individuals and households, and State, Local or Tribal Governments. Number of Respondents: 400. Estimated Time per Respondent: 1 Hour. Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 800 Hours. Frequency of Response: Annually. Comments: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on the proposed information collection to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Nathan Lesser, Desk Officer, Department of Homeland Security/FEMA, and sent via electronic mail to oirasubmission@omb.eop.gov or faxed to (202) 395-6974. Comments must be submitted on or before November 15, 2007.

This rule identifies communities, where the sale of flood insurance has been authorized under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), that are scheduled for suspension on the effective dates listed within this rule because of noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program. If the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) receives documentation that the community has adopted the required floodplain management measures prior to the effective suspension date given in this rule, the suspension will not occur and a notice of this will be provided by publication in the Federal Register on a subsequent date.

This notice amends the notice of a major disaster declaration for the State of Texas (FEMA-1709-DR), dated June 29, 2007, and related determinations.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), this notice seeks comments concerning the Mission Assignment (MA) form that is used to record requests for Federal assistance by State and Federal entities to FEMA, and the Action Request (AR) form which is used to request Federal assistance. Title: Request for Federal Assistance FormHow to Process Mission Assignments in Federal Disaster Operations. OMB Number: 1660-0047. Abstract: The MA form is used to record a request for Federal assistance by States and Federal entities to FEMA, and may become the official FEMA obligating document if a mission assignment to another Federal agency results from the request. Mission assignments are directives provided by FEMA to another agency to perform specific work in disaster operations, on a reimbursable basis and are defined in the 44 CFR 206.2(a)(18) and to record Federal approving signatures. Affected Public: State, local or tribal governments and Federal Government. Number of Respondents: 56. Estimated Time per Respondent: 8 hours and 23 minutes. Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,739. Estimated Cost: Cost to respondent is estimated to be approximately $61,195.41 annually. Comments: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on the proposed information collection to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Nathan Lesser, Desk Officer, Department of Homeland Security/FEMA, and sent via electronic mail to oirasubmission@omb.eop.gov or faxed to (202) 395-6974. Comments must be submitted on or before November 13, 2007.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is accepting comments on the draft supporting documents to the National Response Framework (NRF). Composed of the Emergency Support Functions Annexes, Support Annexes, and Incident Annexes, these supplemental documents provide additional guidance that may be used in implementing the NRF. Combined with the NRF, these documents incorporate lessons-learned from recent disasters, and articulate more clearly the roles of the States, tribal, and local jurisdictions and the private sector to guide a successful response to natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

This interim rule lists communities where modification of the Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) is appropriate because of new scientific or technical data. New flood insurance premium rates will be calculated from the modified BFEs for new buildings and their contents.

Base (1% annual chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and modified BFEs are made final for the communities listed below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that each community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

FEMA gives notice of an increase of the maximum amount for Small Project Grants to State and local governments and private nonprofit facilities for disasters declared on or after October 1, 2007.

This is a notice of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the State of Illinois (FEMA-1729-DR), dated September 25, 2007, and related determinations.

Base (1% annual chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and modified BFEs are made final for the communities listed below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that each community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

This is a notice of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the State of Missouri (FEMA-1728-DR), dated September 21, 2007, and related determinations.