Bush Signs Flood Insurance Bill

By Steven Brostoff, Washington Editor

NU Online News Service, June 30, 4 :31 p.m. EDT, Washington?President Bush has signed insurance industry-backed legislation extending the National Flood Insurance Program through 2008.

The legislation?called the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act?not only reauthorizes the program, but for the first time establishes a flood loss mitigation program that charges higher premiums to owners of repetitive loss properties who decline to take steps to reduce flood losses.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Mike Oxley, R-Ohio, who led the fight for the mitigation program, praised enactment of the legislation, noting that it was a bipartisan effort.

"The reforms set out in this law fortify the original intent of the NFIP while preventing unacceptable expenses for the taxpayers," Rep. Oxley said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that the mitigation program could save $200 million annually.

Special Reports /

Bush Signs Flood Insurance Bill

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