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House Committee Okays Five Additional Flood Insurance Bills

Federal Issues House Financial Services Committee National Flood Insurance Program Federal Legislation Flood Insurance

Federal Issues

On June 21, the House Financial Services Committee (Committee) approved changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), passing five additional bills. As previously reported in InfoBytes, the committee passed two flood insurance measures on June 15. The approval of these latest bills completes a seven-bill package to reauthorize the NFIP.

According to the committee’s press release, the five newly passed bills include:

H.R. 2875 ,the “National Flood Insurance Program Administrative Reform Act of 2017”— introduced by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.)— is intended to help NFIP policyholders when challenging claim denials and to also cut down on claim fraud. The bill passed in a 58-0 vote.

H.R. 1558, the “Repeatedly Flooded Communities Preparation Act” —introduced by Rep. Ed Royce (R-Cal.)—was approved by the committee in a voice vote. The bill will “ensure community accountability for areas repetitively damaged by floods” by requiring these flood-prone areas to design mitigation plans.

H.R. 1422, the “Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act”— introduced by Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.)—allows homeowners to use private flood insurance to satisfy the flood insurance mandate, if the private policies are sufficiently similar to NFIP insurance policies. This bill passed by a vote of 58-0.

H.R. 2246, the “Taxpayer Exposure Mitigation Act of 2017”—introduced by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.)—eliminates the requirement that commercial properties located in flood hazard areas must maintain flood insurance coverage.  Additionally, the measure will “provide for greater transfer of risk . . . to private capital and reinsurance markets,” and will allow state and local governments to develop their own flood maps. The committee approved the bill in a 36-24 vote.

H.R. 2565, also introduced by Rep. Luetkemeyer, will “require the use of replacement cost value in determining the premium rates for flood insurance coverage.” The committee approved it in a 34-25 vote.