SmarterSafer coalition calls for U.S. flood insurance reform, facing December deadline

Flood Insurance Extension - Flooding

Recent efforts to overhaul NFIP has reached a struggling point, but one business group wants to push ahead.

The latest shot at American flood insurance reform has come across a serious obstacle in its attempts to move ahead. However, a business and environmental groups coalition has strengthened its call for an overhaul to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

They’re pushing for lawmakers to make much needed changes to the program before its December expiry.

The flood insurance reforms need to be made before December 8, 2017 if they are to be ready ahead of NFIP’s expiry. The group, the SmarterSafer coalition, issued a letter to U.S. House members, calling for them to pass compromise legislation. This would provide NFIP with a deadline extension that would run through 2022. The group underscored the need for the program to be in place.

Millions of Americans needed the flood insurance program’s assistance this year, particularly in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Harvey, alone, left behind record breaking flooding, and the fact that it struck a large city like Houston only escalated the impact.

The flood insurance reform currently under consideration is a compromise package with important changes.

National Flood Insurance Reform“This legislative package moves the flood program in the right direction and contains needed reforms that will better protect those in harm’s way, the environment, and taxpayers,” said the letter as per a Reuters report.

That said, the stumbling block that has landed in front of the progression of this flood insurance overhaul arrived with the House Rules Committee. It issued an indefinite postponement the bill’s hearing that had been scheduled for this week.

“Clearly they’re trying to make sure they’ve got all their ducks in a row and they’ve got all the votes they need,” said Taxpayers for Common Sense’s Steve Ellis. That conservative group is among the participants in the coalition calling for NFIP’s reform.

The National Wildlife Foundation’s legislative director, Joshua Saks, stated that one of the drawbacks of the current flood insurance reform compromise is that it doesn’t make certain that the flood mitigation project funding will ever be spent.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.