A Congressional House committee pursuing reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program is also considering a number of related legislative proposals beyond the NFIP’s renewal.

In all, four bills were under consideration during the House Financial Services Committee’s March 13 hearing, according to an update written for members of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association by Nathaniel Wienecke, senior vice president of Federal Government Relations for the organization.

Testimony and questions during the hearing touched on key APCIA program reform priorities including “resiliency, bridging the insurance gap and expanding the private flood insurance,” Wienecke wrote.

One bill by Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) would reauthorize the NFIP and also create a demonstration program designed to make insurance affordable for low-income families, Wienecke said. Two other bills would improve floodplain management and mitigation and reauthorize the flood mapping program along with appropriate funding. A fourth bill discussed during the hearing, from Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), would push for better policyholder understanding of flood insurance policies and also improve consumers’ appeals and litigation process, according to the letter.

Source: APCIA