NEW ORLEANS – Greater New Orleans, Inc. President and CEO Michael Hecht testified today, at 9:00 a.m., on behalf of the Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance (CSFI), before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on the policy priorities that should be included in the reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program.
GNO, Inc. reps said there are four primary policy areas CSFI has focused on that were highlighted, denoted by the acronym MMAP:
• Mitigation – A comprehensive approach to reducing flood losses before a disaster occurs is a more effective means to reducing economic loss and protecting taxpayer interests, than ejecting households and businesses from NFIP via unaffordable flood insurance premiums
• Mapping – Enhancing the way we assess and communicate risk through improvements to the mapping process will protect communities and the NFIP over the long-term
• Affordability – Premiums must remain affordable in order to keep communities across America economically viable
• Program Participation – Adopting policies that encourage more people to buy flood insurance will help to bring the program’s costs in line with revenues in a responsible way and help communities recover more quickly following a flood event
GNO, Inc. reps said GNO, Inc. has led the CSFI, a national alliance of approximately 250 organizations across 35 states that was formed in the wake of the implementation of the Biggert-Waters Act, when homeowners across the nation were facing skyrocketing rate increases through a combination of the removal of grandfathering and new maps, which often times were inaccurate. CSFI was a driving force behind the passage of the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HFIAA), which was signed into law in March 2014. The NFIP must be authorized before Sept. 30, 2017
