National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Re-authorization
Amy Fennell • July 24, 2017
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
is set to expire on September 30th without Congressional action. NAR estimates that past lapses of the NFIP have delayed or cancelled 1,400 transactions a day. NFIP was created in 1968, and has about 5 million active policies in existence in all 50 states and over 21,0000 communities. Louisiana has the third most policies active with over 450,000 properties covered following Florida with around 1.8 million policies and Texas with just over 600,000 policies in force. The program presently is in debt to the United States treasury by approximately $25 Billion. This certainly creates a concern for the sustainability of the program.
During the past month, there has been a lot of activity on Capitol Hill. NAR has been actively engaged in trying to shape various pieces of legislation in accordance with NARs flood insurance policy principles.
Louisiana has been very well represented by the Congressional delegation along with broker David McKey of Coldwell Banker One in Baton Rouge who currently serves as the Chair of the NAR Insurance Committee. His committee along with NAR staff have been rallying the key people in Washington toward the program's re-authorization. View the following video for a great recap of where we stand and what will be happening as we near the re-authorization deadline.
From the Louisiana Department of Insurance: Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple joined Governor Jeff Landry and Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Kirk Talbot today to announce that Louisiana is investing an additional $20 million in Fortified homes, bringing the total amount invested in state Fortified projects this year to $100 million. Governor Landry announced that $20 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be transferred to the Louisiana Office of Community Development Restore Resilient Opportunities for Overhead Fortification (Restore ROOF) program to strengthen residential structures and reduce long-term disaster risk. Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a bill that allows $50 million in additional Katrina and Rita bond money from Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to be added to the Department of Insurance’s Louisiana Fortify Homes Program (LFHP). Also beginning this year, LFHP is projected to receive approximately $30 million annually from taxes and fees the Louisiana Department of Insurance collects from the insurance industry. “Building stronger homes is a vital part of making homeowners insurance affordable in Louisiana,” said Commissioner Temple. “I appreciate Governor Landry’s leadership and support as we work with legislators like Chairman Talbot to make Louisiana a national leader in the adoption of Fortified roofs.” The Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDI) has finalized its promulgation of Regulation 136—Fortify Homes Premium Discounts. The purpose of Regulation 136 is to implement the statutory provisions set forth in La. R.S. 22:1483, et seq. , which require that all Louisiana property and casualty insurers provide premium discounts or insurance rate reductions for homes constructed or upgraded in accordance with the fortified standards created by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. View Regulation 136 here .
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