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Treats continuous private-market flood insurance the same as continuous National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) coverage for purposes of any statutory, regulatory, or administrative continuous-coverage rules. In practice, if a property was continuously covered by a private flood policy used to meet the mandatory purchase requirement, that time will count as continuous coverage for protections tied to continuous coverage (including those in section 1307(g)(1)). The change directs the FEMA Administrator to recognize private flood policies when determining whether a property has met continuous-coverage requirements, which can preserve rate and eligibility protections that depend on continuous coverage.
Section 1308 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015) is amended by adding a new subsection (n) titled 'Effect of private flood insurance coverage on continuous coverage requirements.'
For the purpose of applying any statutory, regulatory, or administrative continuous coverage requirement (including under section 1307(g)(1)), the Administrator must consider any period during which a property was continuously covered by a private-market flood insurance policy that was used to satisfy the requirements of section 102(a) of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a(a)) to be a period of continuous coverage.
Who is affected and how:
Homeowners and property owners with flood risk: Owners who maintained continuous private flood insurance policies (and used those policies to meet the mandatory-purchase requirement) will be able to count those coverage periods as continuous for purposes that provide legal or pricing protections tied to continuous coverage. That can preserve eligibility for certain rate treatments or other benefits that depend on a continuous-coverage history.
Private flood insurance companies: Private insurers may see a positive effect because their customers' continuous coverage will be accepted for federal continuous-coverage calculations, reducing incentives to switch into the NFIP solely to preserve historical coverage credit.
FEMA / NFIP administration: FEMA will need to update regulations, guidance, and administrative processes to recognize and verify private-market continuous coverage when applying continuous-coverage rules.
Real estate transactions and lenders: Lenders and buyers in flood-prone areas may find fewer disruptions from map changes or coverage-history disputes if private coverage counts as continuous coverage.
Overall impact: The change is largely technical and benefits individual property owners and private insurers by ensuring private coverage history is treated the same as NFIP coverage for continuous-coverage rules. Administrative adjustments by FEMA are required, but there is no new federal spending or evident burden on state or local governments.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Last progress June 12, 2025 (8 months ago)
Introduced on June 12, 2025 by Richard Lynn Scott