Preparing for the Storm | National Flood Insurance Program
Watch the hearing here:
From Ileana Ledet, with Greater New Orleans, Inc.:
On March 13th @9:00am CST, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a full committee hearing on flood insurance reauthorization entitled “Preparing for the Storm: Reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program.” This past Friday afternoon, HFSC released four discussion drafts of legislation which will be discussed at the hearing. You can read the discussion drafts, along with the hearing memo, here.
Some of the proposals included in the bill package are:
- A five-year reauthorization of the NFIP
- Forgiveness of the NFIP’s debt
- A means tested affordability program, where premiums would be discounted for households earning 80% of Area Median Income or less. Those premiums would be capped at 2% of Area Median Income.
- Allowance for premiums to be paid monthly
- Creation of a state revolving loan fund for flood mitigation
- Increased coverage limits for homes and businesses, with limits for homes increasing from $250,000 to $500,000 and commercial policy limits increasing from $500,000 to $1,500,000
- Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage doubled from $30,000 to $60,000, with the policy not subject to policy limits and with acquisitions of property an eligible expense
- Improvements to the CRS program and increased support for communities for effective floodplain management
- $2B authorized annually for pre-disaster hazard mitigation funding
- Improved mapping by requiring the use of the most up-to-date technology, including LIDAR
- Improvements to FEMA’s map appeals process for communities and policyholders
- Allowance for communities to adopt portions of new flood maps while continuing to appeal other portions, or panels
- Improvements to the claims process
We are continuing to digest the bills and will share further analysis in the coming weeks.
We will plan to submit a statement for the Congressional record and will share updates on outcomes of the hearing and legislative next steps.