accelerated identification of flood-risk zones

accelerated identification of flood-risk zones Sec. 204. (a) Section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is amended by inserting the designation “(a)” after “Sec. 1360.” and adding at the end thereof the following new subsections: “(b) The Secretary is directed to accelerate the identification of risk zones within flood-prone and mudslide-prone areas, as provided by subsection (a) (2) of this section, in order to make known the degree of hazard within each such zone at the earliest possible date. To accomplish this objective, the Secretary is authorized, without regard to sections 3648 and 3709 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (31 U.S.C. 529 and 41 U.S.C. 5), to make grants, provide technical assistance, and enter into contracts, cooperative agreements, or other transactions, on such terms as he may deem appropriate, or consent to modifications thereof, and to make advance or progress payments in connection therewith. “(c) The Secretary of Defense (through the Army Corps of Engineers), the Secretary of the Interior (through the United States Geological Survey), the Secretary of Agriculture (through the Soil Conservation Service), the Secretary of Commerce (through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the heads of all other Federal agencies engaged in the identification or delineation of flood-risk zones within the several States shall, in consultation with the Secretary, give the highest practicable priority in the allocation of available manpower and other available resources to the identification and mapping of flood hazard areas and flood-risk zones, in order to assist the Secretary to meet the deadline established by this section.”.