Senate Passes Flood Insurance Legislation

June 17, 2004

The United States Senate today passed Senator Jim Bunning's legislation to provide flood insurance for policy holders and home buyers. The legislation is now expected to be passed by the House of Representatives in the coming weeks.

The bill (S. 2238) will re-authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program until September 30, 2009 in order to ensure nationwide flood insurance is available to accelerate recovery from floods, mitigate future losses, save lives, and reduce the personal and national cost of flood disasters.

"This legislation is good news for those Kentucky homeowners who live in areas constantly under the threat of severe storms and flooding," said Bunning. "The legislation will both renew and reform this important program in order to provide relief to those homeowners who have been hit hard by severe flooding."

The National Flood Insurance Program offers insurance for 4.4 million homeowners and coverage is a mortgage requirement for certain home loans in flood-prone areas. Bunning's legislation will help a great deal of homeowners by bringing stability to the program and providing mitigation assistance, which will help save the taxpayers money by getting those homeowners off the repetitive loss list.


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