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A few weeks ago, the Senate left town for the Easter recess without voting on extending the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program), thereby resulting in the program’s expiration. The House had previously approved, by unanimous consent, a $9 billion measure containing one-month extensions of several programs including unemployment insurance, COBRA subsidies for health benefits and flood insurance. Senate leaders of both parties hoped to have their chamber approve the same bill before the Easter break, but Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) objected to the House bill saying it was not funded. A similar scenario occurred in early March. Congress approved legislation last night that reinstated the National Flood Insurance Program. President Obama signed the measure into law within an hour after the House passed the measure.

The provision is effective until May 31. It is retroactive from March 28, when the fourth temporary extension since the program’s authorization originally ran out on Sept. 30, 2008. This will rectify and lapse in coverage and allow people living in flood prone areas to move on with their lives.

Officials of the American Insurance Association said the goal of congressional leadership is to finish work by May 31 on a so-called tax extender’s bill, H.R. 4213, “thus precluding the need for another short-term extension of the NFIP.” This Bill will extend and fund NFIP thru Dec 31, 2010.

According to officials of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, “in theory, the NFIP will now return to normal operations and since the extension is also retroactive, any new policy applications or renewals that were signed and submitted during the hiatus will be effective from the date of application (or in the case of waiting periods, the waiting period will start from the date of application).”

At the same time, the House Financial Services Committee plans to unveil legislation today providing long-term reauthorization and reforming of the program.

Understandably agents are “frustrated by these repeated one-month extensions and the periods of expiration that sometimes result from them.” The NFIP is meant to provide a level of stability and protection “for homeowners and businesses against dangerously unpredictable and costly flooding events, not to be an unpredictable ‘here one minute-gone the next’ program subject to monthly congressional action. The IIABA strongly urges Congress to pass a long term extension of this critical program,” Charles Symington, IIABA senior vice president of government affairs said.