For the eleventh time since 2017, Congress extended the National Flood Insurance Program on May 30/2019 by another two weeks. The flood Program, which was set to expire on June 1, is now extended through June 14, 2019 meaning that new flood insurance policies can be issued and real estate transactions won’t be delayed during this time. This two week extension provides law makers a bit more time to decide if they want to pass a long-term solution to a program that is in dire need of reform.
In years past, multiple temporary extensions have proven to be a result of lawmakers looking to revamp the NFIP, which can result in significant changes to flood insurance rules. This temporary extension appears to be no exception to this as a separate $19 billion disaster aid bill - which would only extend the program through September 30, 2019 - was already passed by the Senate but has yet to be passed in the House.
For compliance professionals, this ongoing trend of short-term extensions should be a warning flag that even more changes to flood insurance laws - as we are already dealing with new Private Flood Insurance Rules that are required on July 1, 2019 - may be coming in the not so distant future.
