# What This Bill Does

Right now, if you have a house or building in a flood-prone area and you need flood insurance, the federal government requires you to maintain continuous coverage—meaning you can't have any gaps in your insurance. The problem is that the current rules only count time you spent covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (the government's flood insurance) when determining whether you've met this continuous coverage requirement. If you switched to private flood insurance from a regular insurance company, that time doesn't count toward your continuous coverage history, even though you were actually protected the whole time.

This bill fixes that by saying the government should recognize private flood insurance the same way it recognizes federal flood insurance when checking your continuous coverage record. So if you had private flood insurance for two years and then switched to the National Flood Insurance Program, those two years would now count toward your continuous coverage requirement instead of being erased from your record.

**Who this affects:** Homeowners and business owners in flood-prone areas who have switched between private and federal flood insurance, or who are thinking about doing so. It also affects people who might face penalties or higher rates for not meeting continuous coverage requirements due to gaps that were actually just switches between insurance types.

**The practical impact:** This makes it easier for property owners to shop around for the best flood insurance deal without worrying that switching providers will hurt their coverage history. It recognizes that you're protected either way, so the government shouldn't penalize you for choosing private insurance over the federal program.

To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to allow for the consideration of private flood insurance for the purposes of applying continuous coverage requirements, and for other purposes.

Castor, Kathy

 <p> <p>This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency to allow a period of private flood insurance coverage to count towards continuous coverage requirements as part of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Property owners must maintain continuous flood insurance coverage to qualify for certain NFIP subsidies.