Natural Disaster Policy - Issue Summary
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| What is the fundamental issue? |
| Insurers have responded to recent natural disasters by raising premiums or declining to write policies. NAR supports legislation that improves the availability and affordability of residential and commercial property insurance nationwide. |
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| I'm a Realtor®. What does this mean to my business? |
| Without a greater federal role in property insurance, there may not be sufficient resources or coverage in many parts of the country to protect against the next catastrophe from a hurricane or earthquake. |
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| NAR Policy: |
| The policy supports a federal natural disaster program that promotes the availability and affordability of property insurance nationwide and develops a highly coordinated system of prevention and remedial assistance. |
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| Legislative/Regulatory Status/Outlook: |
NAR has adopted a multi-bill strategy to advance the debate over property insurance for natural disasters. For example, we have supported reinsurance bills by Reps. Ron Klein (D-FL) and Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), as well as legislation by Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) to expand the scope of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to include wind damage.
Congress is expected to revisit the issue of expanding NFIP coverage when it resumes debate over a broader set of reforms early next year. Reps. Klein and Brown-Waite as well as Tom Rooney (R-FL) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) have re-introduced natural disaster legislation, which all present additional opportunities to advance a national disaster policy. |
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