FIRST REGULAR SESSION
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE MERIDETH.
Read 1st time March 6, 2003, and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 49.600, 49.605, 49.610, 49.615, and 644.018, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof nine new sections relating to flood plain management, with a penalty provision.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 49.600, 49.605, 49.610, 49.615, and 644.018, RSMo, are repealed and nine new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 49.600, 49.602, 49.603, 49.605, 49.610, 49.615, 49.620, 49.623, and 49.625, to read as follows:
49.600. 1. The county commission[, in all counties which have not adopted county planning and zoning,] or the governing body of any county or city may, as provided by law, adopt or rescind by order or ordinance regulations to require compliance with sections 49.600 to 49.625 and with Federal Emergency Management Agency standards[,] necessary to comply with the national flood insurance program[,] in any flood hazard area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; provided, however, that no ordinance or order enacted pursuant to this section in any county that has not adopted county planning and zoning shall be effective unless the county commission or governing body of the county submits to the voters of a county pursuant to subsection 2 of this section, at a county or state general, primary or special election, a proposal to authorize the county commission or governing body of the county to adopt such an order or ordinance.
2. The ballot of such submission shall contain but need not be limited to the following language:
Shall the county of ......................... enact an order or ordinance for such regulations as required for compliance with state and Federal Emergency Management standards[,] necessary to comply with the national flood insurance program[,] in any flood hazard area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency?
□ Yes □ No
If you are in favor of the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "Yes". If you are opposed to the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "No".
If a majority of the votes cast on the proposal by the qualified voters voting thereon are in favor of the proposal, then the ordinance or order and any amendments thereto shall be in effect. If a majority of the votes cast by the qualified voters voting are opposed to the proposal, then the governing body of the county shall have no power to adopt such an order or ordinance. The people of a county [covered by] subject to an ordinance enacted pursuant to sections 49.600 to [49.615] 49.625 may request a ballot measure to rescind the order or ordinance regulations by presenting an initiative petition to the county commission of the county, with a minimum of five percent of the registered voters' signatures that voted in the last gubernatorial election. After receiving the qualifying initiative petition the county commission shall place on the ballot at the next general election the following:
Shall national flood insurance programs be adopted in ........................ County?
□ Yes □ No
If a majority of those voting vote for adopting the national flood insurance program, the program shall be continued; if a majority of those voting vote against adopting the national flood insurance program, the program shall be discontinued within thirty days after certification of the election results.
3. The provisions of [this section] sections 49.600 to 49.625 shall not apply to [the incorporated portions of the counties, or to] the raising of livestock, crops, orchards or forestry, nor to seasonal or temporary impoundments used for rice farming or flood irrigation. As used in this section, the term "rice farming or flood irrigation" means small berms of no more than eighteen inches high that are placed around a field to hold water for use for growing rice or for flood irrigation. Nor shall [this section] sections 49.600 to 49.625 apply to the erection, maintenance, repair, alteration or extension of farm buildings or farm structures used for such purposes in an area not within the area shown on the flood hazard area map. Nor shall this section apply to underground mining where entrance is through an existing shaft or shafts or through a shaft or shafts in an area not within the area shown on the flood hazard area map.
4. Levee districts organized pursuant to chapter 245, RSMo, and drainage districts organized pursuant to chapters 242 and 243, RSMo, are subject to flood plain management regulations adopted by a county or city pursuant to [this chapter] sections 49.600 to 49.625.
5. Nothing contained in sections 49.600 to [49.615] 49.625 shall affect the existence or validity of an ordinance which a county or city has adopted prior to March 4, 1991.
49.602. 1. Anyone seeking to build any enclosed building, levee, or other earthen berm within a one hundred year flood plain in any county or city that has not adopted planning and zoning but has adopted an order or ordinance pursuant to sections 49.600 to 49.625 shall obtain a permit from the state emergency management agency before building such structure. Upon receiving the application, the state emergency management agency shall immediately notify the departments of natural resources and agriculture, and allow fifteen days for such departments to comment on the application. The state emergency management agency shall not issue the permit unless the structure meets all applicable state and federal requirements.
2. Anyone seeking to build any enclosed building, levee, or other earthen berm within a one hundred year flood plain in any county or city that has adopted planning and zoning and has adopted an order or ordinance pursuant to sections 49.600 to 49.625 shall obtain a permit from such county or city before building such structure. Upon receiving the application, the county or city shall immediately notify the departments of natural resources and agriculture and the state emergency management agency, and allow fifteen days for such departments to comment on the application. The county or city shall not issue the permit unless the structure meets all applicable state and federal requirements.
3. The provisions of this section shall not apply to land in counties of the third classification used for agricultural purposes.
4. Agricultural land shall not be used in the calculation for cost/benefit analysis for levee development to protect commercial and residential properties.
49.603. No new commercial, residential, or industrial structures, including protective levees, shall be constructed in a floodway, as determined by Federal Emergency Management Agency flood delineation maps, without the approval of the state emergency management agency. This section shall not apply to structures intended to be flooded, water recreation and transportation structures such as marinas and navigational infrastructure, small recreational structures, bridges and bridge approaches, and other structures required for water-related recreational and commercial activities.
49.605. No permit required by the provisions of order or ordinance regulations adopted pursuant to the provisions of sections 49.600 to [49.615] 49.625 shall be denied an applicant if the proposed construction, use or other development will not raise the flood elevation of the one hundred year flood level more than one-tenth of one foot; provided, however, that any permit [may] shall require that the lowest floor of an insurable structure shall be elevated one foot above the one hundred year flood level and that all structures shall be adequately anchored to prevent flotation, collapse or lateral movement of the structure.
49.610. 1. Any order or ordinance regulations adopted pursuant to sections 49.600 to [49.615] 49.625 shall provide that the county commission or governing body of the county or city may grant individual variances beyond the limitations prescribed by the order or ordinance regulations upon presentation of adequate proof that compliance with the provisions of the order or ordinance regulations will result in an exceptional hardship to applicant or any arbitrary and unreasonable closing or prevention of any lawful construction, use or other development in the area, city, or county and which will not result in additional threats to public safety and will not be inconsistent with the objectives of sound flood plain management.
2. Such variance shall not be granted without an approval permit issued by the state emergency management agency. The county commission or governing body of the county or city shall submit each requested variance to the agency for review and the agency shall issue a decision on the variance within ninety days after receipt of the requested variance.
49.615. All final decisions, orders, actions or determinations of the county commission or governing body of the county or city and subsequent actions by the state emergency management agency made under or involving the provisions of order or ordinance regulations adopted pursuant to the provisions of sections 49.600 to [49.615] 49.625 shall be subject to judicial review to the same extent and in the same manner prescribed by chapter 536, RSMo.
49.620. The general assembly may appropriate moneys for projects in designated special flood hazard areas that meet the standards of the National Flood Insurance Program pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sections 4001, et seq. The term "structures" as used in this section shall not be construed to apply to earthen embankments for the purpose of transportation projects or strictly for the protection of agricultural land. The general assembly may make appropriations to repair public levees which have been damaged or are in need of repair, and may make appropriations to raise levees from their existing protective elevation if approved by the state emergency management agency.
49.623. 1. To be eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency 404 Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds or the department of economic development block grant funds, a community that contains a special flood hazard area within its boundaries must be a member of the National Flood Insurance Program. All applications and other related material, including any information regarding the amount of money paid or the condition of the property purchased, shall be public records and the recipient of such moneys shall sign a waiver of any privacy rights with regard to such records as a condition of receiving moneys under the program.
2. For each mitigation project funded with a combination of community development block grants and Federal Emergency Management Agency Section 404 funds involving property acquisitions, the department shall maintain a permanent file reflecting as a minimum the following:
(1) A summary of moneys expended by activity;
(2) The specific purchase price for each property, the address or description of such property, and the identity of the former owner of such property;
(3) The appraised valuation of each property; and
(4) A history of prior claims under the National Flood Insurance Program for each property acquired.
49.625. 1. A person commits the crime of misrepresentation of a material fact when such person knowingly misrepresents a material fact or conceals a material fact on an application for buy-out funds pursuant to section 49.623.
2. All incidents of suspected fraud or abuse regarding flood insurance claims or other federal or state assistance related to flooding incidents known by the department shall be referred to the attorney general's office for appropriate action and such violations may be filed in the county where the violations occur by either the prosecuting attorney of such county or by the attorney general's office.
3. Misrepresentation of a material fact is a class C felony.
[644.018. In any contested case or judicial proceeding filed after January 1, 1998, involving surface water in any flood-prone area, if any defendant has obtained and fully complied with a permit from a political subdivision which has enacted orders or ordinances as required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a prerequisite to participation in the National Flood Insurance Program, and which political subdivision has jurisdiction, pursuant to the zoning laws of this state or the laws and regulations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, over the area in dispute, then the proper permitting and compliance with all conditions of such permitting of such project shall be conclusive proof that the project is a reasonable use and meets any reasonable-use test imposed by law or by a court.]