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<br />to repetitive flooding should be denied subsidized insurance and flood disaster payments if their <br />owners turn down offers to purchase permanent easements, <br /> <br />· F or states and localities, programs for flood control structures, nonstructural flood measures, <br />mitigation, and flood disaster assistance should all be based on the same, sliding cost-sharing <br />formula for federal assistance, A minimum cost-share would be available to all localities but the <br />federal share would be increased for communities and states that engage in disaster-resistant <br />activities exceeding minimum criteria and that are implementing strong mitigation programs. After <br />a flood disaster, Public Assistance under the Stafford Act should be withheld from the damaged <br />floodplain areas of communities not enrolled in (or not in compliance with) the National Flood <br />Insurance Program, <br /> <br />· All taxpayer-funded flood disaster relief should be contingent upon taking flood mitigation action, <br /> <br />· The federal government should set an example by enforcing appropriate restrictions on floodplain <br />lands it leases, and terminating those leases on schedule. In some areas of the nation, buildings <br />exist on floodplain lands leased from the Corps of Engineers. These leases were intended only to <br />"live out" the original landowners and then expire, and they included clauses specif'ying that <br />neither flood insurance nor flood disaster relief would be available to the owners, A further <br />condition was that the buildings were not to be converted into permanent homes, although most <br />of them have been, However, because of political pressure, hundreds of these properties receive <br />flood insurance claims payments and disaster relief, and leases are being renewed because <br />Congress will not allow the Corps of Engineers to terminate them. In Illinois, these properties <br />make up a significant proportion of the state's repetitive loss properties, <br /> <br />INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY <br /> <br />Attempts to resolve the problem of rising flood losses should focus on promoting sound investment <br />decisions by individuals, The most significant national impact will be realized through millions of <br />individual decisions and actions rather than through a handful of government decisions and actions, <br />even though each of the latter may be larger in scope. <br /> <br />· Federal monetary assistance for individuals should be based upon whether they had a flood <br />insurance policy before the disaster, even if their property lies outside of the I % chance <br />floodplain, The total amount of assistance received by an individual should be reduced (or a <br />portion of it converted to loans) to reflect the amount of damage that could have been covered <br />by a flood insurance policy, <br /> <br />· Those who use their flood insurance claim payment for mitigation should be further rewarded by <br />receiving an additional increment of support in the form of a grant <br /> <br />· Owners of secondary homes should pay flood insurance rates based on the actual risk to that <br />structure, should be responsible for the structure's recovery and repair costs after a flood disaster, <br />and should bear the full cost of mitigation measures for that structure. <br /> <br />Association of State Floodplain Managers <br /> <br />-29- <br /> <br />National Flood Programs in Review 2000 <br />