| MBA Flood Insurance Agenda Items Moving in Congress |
| Tuesday, 22 November 2005 | |
|
Safeguard received an update of the progress of legislation being closely monitored by the MBA, including ones pertaining to flood insurance (highlighted below in red). To: MBA COMBOG and Committees As Congress works to wrap up the majority of its legislative business for the year and to break for Thanksgiving, there are a number of our priorities moving this week. TRIA I am pleased to inform you that the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee yesterday approved versions of legislation that would extend for two years the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). We expect the full Senate to act on its legislation this week, however the House may not act until after its upcoming Thanksgiving recess. Congress will then work to reconcile the differences in the House and Senate bills in an effort to send final legislation to the President before expiration of the existing program on December 31. George Green of MBA's Commercial/Multifamily staff has prepared the attached side-by-side summary of the two new bills and existing law. Please contact Josh Denney in Legislative Affairs at 202-557-2816 or George at 202-557-2840 with any questions. TRIA Legislation – Comparison of Current TRIA to House and Senate Legislation Tax Items On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee approved the Tax Relief Act of 2005 (S. 2020), which includes a number of key provisions relating to the commercial and multifamily mortgage industry. The bill is currently on the Senate floor for debate and is expected to be passed by the Senate by Friday. The bill includes provisions to extend and expand the expensing of brownfields development and leasehold improvements, to authorize bonus depreciation for development in the Gulf Coast area, and to increase the availability of low income housing tax credits and mortgage revenue bonds in the Gulf region. A similar bill moving in the House, H.R. 4297, would also extend the fifteen-year depreciation for leasehold improvements and extend and expand brownfields expensing. This bill is expected to be debated on the House floor later today or tomorrow. MBA will continue to track these bills and work to preserve the real estate provisions as they move through the process. For more information, contact Josh Denney at 202-557-2816 or JDenney@mortgagebankers.org. Flood Insurance On November 11, David Maurstad, the Acting
Federal Insurance Administrator, sent a letter to the insurance
companies who write National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
policies announcing that the ability of FEMA to process requests
for increases in funding under letters of credit was
suspended. He advised each company to discontinue issuing
claims payments until letters of credit can be increased. On
September 20th, Congress raised the NFIP's line of credit at the
Treasury from $1.5 billion to $3.5 billion. That increase in
borrowing authority has expired, as evidenced by the letter from
Acting Administrator Maurstad. On Wednesday, Nov. 16, the
House passed, H.R. 4133, which would boost NFIP's line of credit to
$8.5 billion. Prompt claims payments reportedly will exhaust
that pending $5 billion increase by the end of this month.
The House Financial Services Committee passed HR 4320, National
Flood Insurance Program Commitment to Policyholders and Reform Act
yesterday. The bill increases the NFIP borrowing authority to
$22 billion, updates coverage limits (which have not increased
since 1994), authorizes additional staff for FEMA, and studies the
impact and feasibility on the program and homeowners and businesses
of changing the program to include all homeowners and businesses
with mortgages in the 500-yr flood plain. The Senate is
currently seeking passage of a bill to increase the NFIP borrowing
authority to $14.6 billion and increase participation in the
program to all those homeowners and businesses in the 500-yr flood
plain that have mortgages. It has been and continues to be a busy week and we will update you further as events warrant. Investing in Communities Kurt Pfotenhauer |
