Earlier this week, President Trump signed into law government funding legislation that would also reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate had previously passed the bipartisan legislation, averting a government shutdown and funding the federal government through Dec. 11. 

Specifically, the legislation would extend the NFIP through Sept. 30, 2021. The yearlong extension is a win for Big “I" members as many previous extensions of the program had been significantly shorter, with some only lasting weeks at a time. 

Since the last long-term NFIP extension, which covered a five-year period, expired in 2017, Congress has yet to pass a multi-year extension of the NFIP as the debate continues regarding options for reforming the program. This has already resulted in a series of stop-gap extensions and a few brief lapses in 2017 and 2018. 

A lapse in the NFIP would have been devastating to the more than 5 million policyholders and countless others who depend on the program. This one-year extension continues to give Congress additional time to build consensus on common-sense reforms to the NFIP and to consider policies to help more property owners obtain flood insurance coverage through the NFIP and the private market. 

The Big “I" looks forward to continuing to work with Congress to enact a much-needed multi-year reauthorization of a modernized NFIP. 

Wyatt Stewart is Big “I" assistant vice president of federal government affairs.