Released by United States Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana – October 26, 2023
“My bill would help ensure FEMA has the tools it needs to rapidly issue advance payments for flood insurance claims so that families get the money they need to recover from disasters when it counts.”
WASHINGTON – Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced the Emergency Advance Payments Modernization Act, a bill to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) quickly issue National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) advance payments by modernizing the technology the agency uses to respond to natural disasters.
“When natural disasters strike, the last thing Louisiana families can afford to do is wait around for FEMA to issue an advance payment before they can begin the recovery process. My bill would help ensure FEMA has the tools it needs to rapidly issue advance payments for flood insurance claims so that families get the money they need to recover from disasters when it counts,” said Kennedy.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.
Background
FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program today allows policyholders to receive advance payments in the wake of natural disasters. These advance payments ensure families can have access to their insurance dollars, even if FEMA has not yet been able to inspect the damage to their homes. Advance payments expedite the recovery process for Louisiana families.
FEMA, however, struggles to quickly approve these advance payments because it does not have access to the real-time data it needs to authorize the payments.
The Emergency Advance Payments Modernization Act would direct FEMA to establish a pilot program to review how satellite-driven hazard monitoring systems could provide real-time data to FEMA to facilitate the pre-inspection approval of advance payments from the NFIP.
Text of the Emergency Advance Payments Modernization Act is available here.
