WASHINGTON, D.C., March 10, 2011 — The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) will testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance and Housing at a hearing titled, “Legislative Proposals to Reform the National Flood Insurance Program” on Friday, March 11, 2011.
WHO: Spencer Houldin, Big “I” government affairs committee chairman
WHAT: To testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance and Housing on “Legislative Proposals to Reform the National Flood Insurance Program”
WHEN: Friday, March 11, 2011
TIME: Starts at 10:00 a.m. Eastern
WHERE: 2128 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
WEB: The hearing will be webcast live. Click HERE for more information.
The Big “I” is the only agent & broker association testifying at the hearing. Independent agents serve as the sales force for the NFIP through work with the Write Your Own companies and provide a unique vantage point to discuss the program. For quite some time the Big “I” has called for extension and reform of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and is very encouraged by the draft legislation by Insurance and Housing Chairman Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) titled the “Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011.”
The Big “I” believes that Congress should modernize the program and protect it from the threat of insolvency in the future. Needed action items include a long term extension, removing subsidies and moving towards risk based rates on most properties, modernizing coverages, and increasing maximum coverage limits which haven’t even been adjusted for inflation since 1994.
Spencer M. Houldin, an independent agent from Connecticut, chairman of the IIABA government affairs committee, and the Connecticut representative on the IIABA Board of Directors, will testify on behalf of the association. Houldin is president of Ericson Insurance, a 75 year old, second generation independent agency with offices in Connecticut and New York.
Founded in 1896, the Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
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