As California contemplates departure from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and new cabinet picks begin making their mark on the federal landscape, Congress has begun to turn a portion of its efforts to reforming and reauthorizing the program.
NFIP started out as a bridge to a fully private flood insurance market, but was re-engineered by bureaucratic edict in 1978 to become a federal flood insurance monopoly. It now owes taxpayers more than $23 billion, despite the efforts of a new generation of focused and committed NFIP officers and staff.
|Introducing reform
Hoping to beat the clock on Congressional reauthorization of NFIP scheduled for September, Washington lawmakers have introduced reform legislation. Representatives Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) reintroduced the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act, which states that qualified private flood insurers must be recognized and accepted by lenders on the same basis as NFIP. The bill is designed to correct certain confusing language found in prior legislation. Senators Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced a companion measure in the Senate.
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