Technical Mapping Advisory Council; Meeting

AGENCY:

Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS

ACTION:

Committee management; Notice of Federal advisory committee meeting.

SUMMARY:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC) will meet via conference call on December 9 and 10, 2015. The meeting will be open to the public.

DATES:

The TMAC will meet via conference call on Wednesday, December 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), and on Thursday, December 10, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST. Please note that the meeting will close early if the TMAC has completed its business.

ADDRESSES:

For information on how to access to the conference call, information on services for individuals with disabilities, or to request special assistance for the meeting, contact the person listed in For Further Information Contact below as soon as possible. Members of the public who wish to dial in for the meeting must register in advance by sending an email to FEMA-TMAC@fema.dhs.gov (attention Mark Crowell) by 11 a.m. EST on Friday, December 4, 2015.

To facilitate public participation, members of the public are invited to provide written comments on the issues to be considered by the TMAC, as listed in the Supplementary Information section below. The Agenda and other associated reports and material will be available for review at www.fema.gov/TMAC by Wednesday, December 2, 2015. Written comments to be considered by the committee at the time of the meeting must be received by Friday, December 4, 2015, identified by Docket ID FEMA-2014-0022, and submitted by one of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Email: Address the email TO: FEMA-RULES@fema.dhs.gov and CC: FEMA-TMAC@fema.dhs.gov. Include the docket number in the subject line of the message. Include name and contact detail in the body of the email.
• Mail: Regulatory Affairs Division, Office of Chief Counsel, FEMA, 500 C Street SW., Room 8NE, Washington, DC 20472-3100.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the words “Federal Emergency Management Agency” and the docket number for this action. Comments received will be posted without alteration at http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided. Docket: For docket access to read background documents or comments received by the TMAC, go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for the Docket ID FEMA-2014-0022.

A public comment period will be held on December 9, 2015, from 11:00-11:20 a.m. and December 10, 2015 from 11:00-11:20 a.m. EST. Speakers are requested to limit their comments to no more than two minutes. Each public comment period will not exceed 20 minutes. Please note that the public comment periods may end before the time indicated, following the last call for comments. Contact the individual listed below to register as a speaker by close of business on Friday, December 4, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mark Crowell, Designated Federal Officer for the TMAC, FEMA, 1800 South Bell Street Arlington, VA 22202, telephone (202) 646-3432, and email mark.crowell@fema.dhs.gov. The TMAC Web site is: http://www.fema.gov/TMAC.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Notice of this meeting is given under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. Appendix.

As required by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, the TMAC makes recommendations to the FEMA Administrator on: (1) How to improve, in a cost-effective manner, the (a) accuracy, general quality, ease of use, and distribution and dissemination of flood insurance rate maps and risk data; and (b) performance metrics and milestones required to effectively and efficiently map flood risk areas in the United States; (2) mapping standards and guidelines for (a) flood insurance rate maps, and (b) data accuracy, data quality, data currency, and data eligibility; (3) how to maintain, on an ongoing basis, flood insurance rate maps and flood risk identification; (4) procedures for delegating mapping activities to State and local mapping partners; and (5)(a) methods for improving interagency and intergovernmental coordination on flood mapping and flood risk determination, and (b) a funding strategy to leverage and coordinate budgets and expenditures across Federal agencies. Furthermore, the TMAC is required to submit an Annual Report to the FEMA Administrator that contains: (1) a description of the activities of the Council; (2) an evaluation of the status and performance of flood insurance rate maps and mapping activities to revise and update Flood Insurance Rate Maps; and (3) a summary of recommendations made by the Council to the FEMA Administrator.

The TMAC must also develop recommendations on how to ensure that flood insurance rate maps incorporate the best available climate science to assess flood risks and ensure that FEMA uses the best available methodology to consider the impact of the rise in sea level and future development on flood risk. The TMAC must collect these recommendations and present them to the FEMA Administrator in a Future Conditions Risk Assessment and Modeling Report (hereafter, Future Conditions Report). Further, in accordance with the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014, the TMAC must develop a review report related to flood mapping in support of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Agenda: On December 9, 2015, there will be a review of the final Annual, and Future Conditions Reports. The final reports were voted upon and approved by the TMAC, subject to amendments agreed upon by the Council at the previous TMAC meeting, which was held on October 20 and 21, 2015. After a review of the content of the reports, a motion will be entertained to formally submit each report with executive summaries to the FEMA Administrator. On December 10, FEMA's Flood Mapping Integrated Project Team will brief the TMAC on the status of FEMA's mapping program. This briefing is intended to help the TMAC prepare for the review report required by the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014. A brief public comment period will take place at the beginning of the meeting each day. A more detailed agenda will be posted by December 4, 2015, at http://www.fema.gov/TMAC.