CSFI Stakeholders –

Please see below for a legislative update.

House Update

As was mentioned on the call this morning and referenced in the news article I shared last night, 26 House Republicans sent a letter to leadership expressing concerns with the House package in its current form. You can read the letter here. There is also text of a manager’s amendment, which is an amendment that would be offered by the author of the bill when it comes to the House floor, that has begun to circulate. While we support the removal of the prohibition of coverage for new construction in the Special Flood Hazard Area, significant concerns remain with regard to how grandfathering is treated in this amendment. It is our understanding that grandfathering would only apply to properties who have already been remapped and thus been able to take advantage of grandfathering. If your community is still operating off of its first flood map (as many, if not most, are) properties who built to code and did everything as directed by the federal government would not be eligible for grandfathering. 

Also, this manager’s amendment does not address additional concerns with the package of bills, including rate increases, numerous increased fees and surcharges, lack of support for mitigation, and concerns related to cherry-picking. 

Please continue to reach out to your Members of Congress to express concerns and share the sentiment that the Manager’s Amendment does not fully satisfy concerns. 

Senate Update

Yesterday evening, the Senate introduced legislation to reauthorize the NFIP for 6 years and includes some additional reforms and improvements.  This bill is a step in the right direction, and we are working with our Senators to add improvements to the bill through an expected amendment process in committee. While a committee markup has not been officially noticed, we are hearing it will occur before August recess. We do not expect Senate floor action before the recess.

As always, please let me know any questions. I’ll continue to keep you posted as things develop.

Thanks –

Caitlin