The U.S. House of Representatives, by voice vote, has passed H.R. 2578, the National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2019, bipartisan legislation introduced by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, again temporarily extending the authorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (“NFIP”), this time to September 30, 2019.
At present, the authorization is due to expire on May 31.
Since the NFIP's multi-year authorization expired on September 30, 2017, Congress has passed 10 short-term extensions and even allowed the program to briefly lapse twice during government shutdowns. Congresswoman Waters said on the floor of the House that the bill to extend the NFIP to September 30 would afford her time to work with Congressman McHenry “to complete our work on a long-term bipartisan compromise.”
Congresswoman Waters added that “[w]e need a long-term reauthorization to provide certainty to homeowners and businesses, and we also need critical reforms to the program. First and foremost, we must do more to address unaffordable premium costs for low-income households, address the program's debt, which is unfairly burdening policyholders with millions of dollars in interest, and lower costs and fees on policyholders.
“Secondly, we need to invest more heavily in mapping, floodplain management, and mitigation, which will save taxpayer dollars in the long run by helping to reduce the damage that occurs when floods hit.
“Finally, Superstorm Sandy exposed numerous issues related to claims processing, including findings of outright fraud. Going forward, we must work to ensure that we have safeguards in place and mechanisms for greater accountability and oversight to ensure that claims are handled fairly and efficiently to provide relief for policyholders.”
In a statement, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said, “With hurricane season quickly approaching, the House took important action today to prevent a lapse in the National Flood Insurance Program, which is critical to millions of families and small businesses across the country, including about 500,000 policyholders in Louisiana alone.
“While these short-term patches are necessary to guarantee certainty for policyholders, we must do more. I will continue working with members on both sides of the aisle toward a long-term reauthorization of NFIP that focuses on affordability, improved mapping, and mitigation, protects taxpayers, and encourages more choices so families can have options when buying flood insurance.”
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Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].