Professional Insurance Agents Issues Statement on Flood Insurance Program

WASHINGTON, July 19 -- The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents issued the following statement by Jon Gentile, vice president of government relations:

"PIA has been actively working with Congress for more than a year to encourage the long-term reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) with needed reforms. With July 31 nearly upon us, however, PIA is urging Congress to pass an extension that goes sufficiently beyond this expiration date.

"While we support many of the reforms included in H.R. 6402, and appreciate the work Reps. Royce and Blumenauer have done to put it together, we do not believe Congress should take a piecemeal approach when it comes to making short-term changes to the NFIP.

"PIA believes reforms to the NFIP should be taken up in a long-term reauthorization of the program, and that, in the meantime, Congress should pass a clean extension of the program for as long as can be agreed to, preferably into 2019, allowing policymakers time to continue to find areas of agreement on important reforms."