Sponsors (4)
The bill reduces premature, confusing FEMA denial notices and improves coordination with insurers, but at the cost of potentially slower delivery of assistance for some applicants and higher administrative burden and costs for FEMA and local governments.
Homeowners with insurance will not receive FEMA denial notices before their insurer finishes processing claims, reducing confusion, stress, duplicate paperwork, and mistaken appeals.
State and local governments and FEMA will face fewer administrative errors and appeals because FEMA notices will be better aligned with insurers' determinations, improving coordination of disaster-claim processing.
Homeowners and local governments may experience slower delivery of FEMA funds for applicants with ultimately ineligible insurance claims because FEMA may wait for insurer determinations before issuing denials or next-step assistance.
FEMA and state/local governments could face increased administrative burden to track insurer claim statuses and coordinate timing, which may raise program costs and slow processing during major disasters.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs FEMA to promulgate rules preventing denial notices to insured disaster-assistance applicants before insurers issue final claim decisions.
Official title: To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure that certain applicants for assistance after a declared major disaster do not receive a notice of denial while the applicant has a pending insurance claim for disaster-related losses, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 10, 2025 by Robert Garcia · Last progress February 10, 2025
Requires FEMA to write rules so that applicants for Stafford Act Individual Assistance who report having an insurance policy do not get a notice that they were denied FEMA help before their insurer makes a final decision on their insurance claim. The rulemaking targets major disasters declared under the Stafford Act and is intended to prevent premature denial notices while an insurance claim is still pending.