Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011 - (Sec. 2) Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (NFIA) to extend through FY2016 the financing for National Flood Insurance Program (Program).
(Sec. 3) Amends the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (FDPA) to authorize the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to suspend temporarily the mandatory flood insurance purchase requirement for areas designated as having special flood hazards, if they meet certain eligibility requirements.
Authorizes the Administrator, upon request of the relevant local government authority, to extend such suspension period for an additional 12 months if the Administrator finds that more than adequate progress has been made on the construction of a flood protection system for the area. Excludes from such extension certain improved real estate or mobile home properties with new mortgages.
Revises the requirement that the lender or servicer of a loan, in the case of a borrower who has failed to purchase flood insurance, purchase it on the borrower's behalf and charge the borrower for the cost of the premiums and fees incurred. Includes among such premiums or fees those incurred for coverage beginning on the date on which flood insurance coverage either lapsed or did not provide a sufficient coverage amount.
Requires a lender or servicer who receives confirmation of a borrower's existing flood insurance coverage to terminate force-placed insurance and refund to the borrower all force-placed insurance premiums (including related fees).
Requires each federal entity for lending regulation to direct regulated lending institutions to accept private flood insurance if it meets federal flood insurance requirements. Requires each federal agency lender, as well as the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), to accept private flood insurance as satisfaction of the flood insurance purchase requirement if it meets such requirements.
(Sec. 4) Amends NFIA to prescribe minimum annual flood insurance deductibles of $2,000 for subsidized rate properties and of $1,000 for actuarial rate properties.
The summary continues for 58 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on July 12, 2011. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 27, 2011: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JUDY BIGGERT (R-IL) introduced it on April 1, 2011, and 19 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 10 Democrats, 9 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 1, 2011, 5641 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5524 days ago, on July 27, 2011.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers