Wednesday, July 13, 2011

House Passes Flood Insurance Reform Act

The full House yesterday (July 12) passed H.R. 1309, the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011 to extend the authorization of the national flood insurance program.  The bipartisan passage (vote 406-22; roll call here) extends the fiscally-nonviable National Flood Insurance Program until September 2016 and adds a measure to pay down its nearly $18 billion debt through a series of annual rate increases for policyholders.  An amendment was also approved to reduce the number of flood insurance policies directly managed by Federal Emergency Management Agency to no more than 10 percent of the total number of flood insurance policies in place nationally.

A related bill (S. 1284) has been introduced in the Senate and referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.   Both the Obama administration and various national insurance associations have endorsed the House bill.

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