The Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance (CSFI), established in 2013 to coordinate private and public sector advocacy towards a sustainable flood insurance program, endorses NFIP-RE Act provisions and a long-term NFIP reauthorization.  Longstanding CSFI priorities – based on the input of wide-ranging stakeholders from policyholders and floodplain managers to bankers and homebuilders – would be accomplished through the enactment of NFIP-RE.

NFIP-RE will benefit both policyholders and the program itself by forbearing NFIP interest payments, while reinvesting up to $619M of annual savings into flood mitigation, and finally authorizing a means-tested affordability program for those earning up to 140% of area median income.  NFIP-RE will also improve NFIP transparency by mandating a public-facing premium calculator and an appeal process to ensure data validity of risk factors.  Furthermore, NFIP-RE proactively advances our national resilience and promotes flood risk adaptation.  The NFIP-RE Act expands increased cost of compliance, funds floodproofing, incentivizes levee investments, and requires that FEMA properly acknowledge federally-funded mitigation projects in premium charges.

CSFI appreciates Senators Cassidy, Kennedy, and Menendez and Representatives Pallone, Higgins, and Carters for their continued championship of NFIP, as evidenced in the re-introduced and improved NFIP-RE Act.  With member organizations spanning coastal and inland communities nationwide, CSFI commends all cosponsors who appreciate their constituents’ need for available, affordable, and transparent flood insurance.   As flooding events have occurred in 99% of counties since the 1990’s, and as Risk Rating 2.0 raises average rates in every state, CSFI encourages all Members of Congress to consider this bill’s wide-reaching benefits to the nation.