US gives last-minute 45-day reprieve to NFIP flood insurance programme
The US gave a last minute reprieve to its National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which had been set to expire at end-September, adding 45 days to its life span together with the temporary funding deal that averted a broader government shutdown.
But the NFIP, a public-private partnership between insurers and government backers, has only until a fresh deadline at November 17 before the drama starts anew.
“With the NFIP Authority set to expire at midnight on Saturday, 9/30/23, Congress extended the NFIP Authority through 11/17/23,” the NFIP said of the latest developments.
“The President signed the extension of the bill, which continues the current authority and contains no reforms to the NFIP at this time.”
The NFIP had warned that failure to extend the programme would mean that no NFIP flood insurers could issue new policies, renew existing policies or increase coverage on in-force policies. A lapse would not impact servicing of in-force policies.
The programme has been subject of conflict between state insurance regulators and programme overseers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over rate trajectories.
Congress last extended the programme in December 2022, the latest of 25 programme extensions since 2017. Extensions have run from two weeks up to a full year.
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