National Flood Insurance Program Clarification Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The National Flood Insurance Program Clarification Act exempts a set of FEMA actions under the National Flood Insurance Act and Biggert-Waters Act from Endangered Species Act section 7(a). That provision ordinarily imposes federal-agency conservation and consultation duties, including review of whether an action jeopardizes listed species or adversely modifies critical habitat.
Within 30 days, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director and NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator must withdraw every existing ESA section 7(a)(2) biological opinion evaluating NFIP impacts. The withdrawn opinions have no effect and may not be reissued. This removes both prospective consultation and existing opinion-based conditions for the cited NFIP authorities.
The bill also changes the land-management and use criteria FEMA may establish for NFIP communities. The inserted wording requires the local measures at issue to be for the sole purpose of protecting property and human health, narrowing room to use those criteria for broader environmental or habitat objectives.
The bill does not repeal the Endangered Species Act for unrelated federal programs, eliminate state wildlife laws, guarantee flood insurance for a property, waive NFIP mapping or premium rules, or prevent voluntary conservation. Its effects depend on the specific cited NFIP actions and on how FEMA interprets the sole-purpose limitation.
Who Benefits and How
FEMA gains faster administration with fewer ESA consultations. Participating communities, property owners, developers, lenders, and policyholders may face fewer habitat-related conditions or delays. Local governments gain clearer authority to focus mandatory floodplain measures on property and human safety.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Listed species, critical habitat, floodplain ecosystems, and downstream communities lose federal review and mitigation tied to NFIP actions. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries must withdraw completed opinions and lose a consultation role. Conservation organizations lose an administrative leverage point. Federal taxpayers may bear added disaster losses if reduced ecological safeguards encourage development in sensitive floodplains.
Key Provisions
- Exempts specified NFIP actions from ESA section 7(a).
- Requires withdrawal of existing NFIP biological opinions within 30 days.
- Prohibits reissuance of the withdrawn biological opinions.
- Removes legal effect from the existing opinions.
- Limits covered land-use criteria to property protection.
- Limits covered land-use criteria to human-health protection.
- Reduces federal habitat review within cited NFIP authorities.
- Preserves ESA duties for unrelated federal actions.
- Preserves state wildlife laws and voluntary conservation measures.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Exempts specified National Flood Insurance Program actions from Endangered Species Act section 7, requires withdrawal and permanent nonreissuance of existing NFIP biological opinions within 30 days, and limits certain land-use criteria to measures solely protecting property and human health.
Key Policy Areas
National Flood Insurance Program, Endangered Species Act, Floodplain Management, Land Use Regulation, Wildlife Habitat
Primary Purpose
Exempts specified National Flood Insurance Program actions from Endangered Species Act section 7, requires withdrawal and permanent nonreissuance of existing NFIP biological opinions within 30 days, and limits certain land-use criteria to measures solely protecting property and human health.
Policy Domains
Sections 2 and 3 ESA exemption, opinion withdrawal, and land-use purpose limit
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- FEMA National Flood Insurance Program administrators
- NFIP-participating local governments
- Property owners facing habitat conditions
- Developers building in NFIP communities
- Mortgage lenders requiring flood coverage
- Flood-insurance policyholders awaiting program action
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federally listed species
- Critical habitat affected by floodplain development
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service consultation staff
- NOAA Fisheries consultation staff
- Conservation organizations
- Downstream communities relying on floodplain ecosystems
- Federal taxpayers financing disaster losses
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Introduced in House
Mr. Bentz introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "community"
- → Local government participating in the NFIP
- "administrator"
- → FEMA Administrator administering the NFIP
- "property_owner"
- → Owner seeking development or flood coverage
- "wildlife_agency"
- → U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- "fisheries_agency"
- → NOAA Fisheries
Note: {'scope_ids': ['nfip_esa_exemption'], 'description': 'The exemption is limited to enumerated NFIP actions and does not repeal other wildlife laws, but the withdrawal and no-reissuance command removes existing federal species safeguards for those actions and narrows land-use purposes.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Covered local land-management criteria limited to protection of property and human health.
Actions under the specifically cited National Flood Insurance Act and Biggert-Waters authorities exempted from ESA section 7(a).
Existing section 7(a)(2) opinions evaluating NFIP impacts that must lose effect and cannot be reissued.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology