§4104–1 Scientific Resolution Panel

Summary

Creates an independent review group called the Scientific Resolution Panel that the Administrator must offer to communities that meet certain rules. A community can use the panel if it filed a timely map appeal, finished 60 days of consultation with FEMA about the appeal, and no more than 120 days (unless the Administrator extends that) have passed since the appeal period ended. A community can also use the panel if it got a revised Flood Insurance Rate Map by Letter of Final Determination after September 30, 2008 and before July 6, 2012, later asked for a map revision, and then received an unfavorable ruling. If a property owner or lessee joins a community appeal, the owner must give technical data to the panel and the panel will decide on those issues. The panel has 5 members with flood-mapping or flood-insurance expertise. It may include impartial federal experts, but FEMA employees cannot serve. The panel must decide the dispute within 90 days. It uses data the community or owner provided and data from the Administrator. For each issue, the panel must pick either the Administrator’s or the community’s position (and the owner’s when involved). Its recommendations are binding and not usually open to court review unless the Administrator finds doing so would create a major safety risk or break the law. If the Administrator declines to follow the panel, they must give a written reason within 60 days, and the community may appeal that refusal. While the panel reviews a case, the most recent Letter of Final Determination map stays in effect and flood insurance stays available.