On Thursday, June 6, at 3:00 p.m., the League’s federal partner, the National League of Cities, and the National Association of Counties are hosting a webinar on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) reauthorization.
The NFIP was created by Congress under the National Flood Insurance Act and provides insurance coverage to property owners for damages and losses due to catastrophic flooding. Since the last long-term reauthorization expired in 2017, there have been a series of short-term extensions, the latest of which expires on September 30, 2024.
There is bipartisan, bicameral legislation to reauthorize and reform the NFIP with most members of the New Jersey delegation sponsoring the legislation. The NFIP-RE Act of 2023 would:
- Protect policyholders from exorbitant premium hikes by capping annual increases at nine percent.
- Provide a comprehensive means-tested voucher for millions of low- and middle-income homeowners and renters if their flood insurance premium becomes prohibitively expensive.
- Increase the maximum limit for Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage to better help policyholders rebuild and implement mitigation projects to reduce costly repetitive flood losses. This coverage helps policyholders meet certain building requirements to reduce future flood damage before they repair or rebuild.
- Boost funding for mitigation grants and modernize mapping to identify and reduce flood risks.
- Create new oversight measures for insurance companies and vendors, and provide FEMA with greater authority to terminate contractors that have a track record of abuse.
- Reform the claims process based on lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy and other disasters, to level the playing field for policyholders during appeal or litigation, hold FEMA accountable to strict deadlines so that homeowners get quick and fair payments, and ban aggressive legal tactics preventing homeowners from filing legitimate claims.
This webinar is free with advanced registration.
Contact: Paul Penna, Senior Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.