Tried to write flood coverage lately? Interesting phenomenon, this flood insurance thing. Backed by the federal government, the program continually needs to be “re-authorized” as Congress can’t seem to get a handle on what to really do with the program. The National Flood Insurance Program (”NFIP”) must be regularly “re-created” by the feds in order to remain effective. Just like other things on Capitol Hill, it’s been mostly relegated to the back burner, similar to other concerns such as estate taxation, the health care bill and several other important pieces of legislation. Read on for details…
Flood insurance has had a stormy past, with many, many changes to the plan having occurred over the decades. Since there has been no permanent legislation authorizing NFIP, Congress must re-visit the plan every so often to get it “re-upped,” so to speak. The last legislation expired on June 1, so it left a number of potential home buyers dangling because they couldn’t close their mortgage loans without having mandated flood coverage required by their lenders. So, Congress sits on the reauthorization for a month, finally reauthorizing the program effective as of 6/30/2010. The current authority only extends through September 30, 2010, so in a couple of months they’re going to have to do it all over again. Click HERE for the most recent information, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.
For those producers who depend on the NFIP for some of their business, get ready for a rocky road. The feds are hugely concerned over the flood insurance landscape and are considering making changes to the program in terms of a complete overhaul. Read the article for the most recent information.