INSURE Act

Summary · Congressional Research Service (nonpartisan)

Incorporating National Support for Unprecedented Risks and Emergencies Act or the INSURE Act The Department of the Treasury must establish a catastrophic property loss reinsurance program that provides reinsurance to qualifying insurance companies. (Reinsurance protects insurers from large losses.) To qualify for reinsurance coverage, insurers must offer an all-perils insurance policy for residential or commercial property and offer incentives to policyholders for activities that reduce losses. The bill provides for a phase-in of the program over several years to cover different catastrophes and perils, including floods, hurricanes, and wildfire. When flood coverage is phased in, the National Flood Insurance Program may no longer issue new policies. The bill establishes the threshold for payouts, guidelines for premium rates, and a Federal Catastrophe Reinsurance Fund for the purpose of investing the premiums paid by insurers and for the issuance of notes and bonds. Treasury must establish a grant program to incentivize investments in loss-reduction activities and to encourage states to require insurers to offer an all-perils property insurance policy. Treasury must report on the feasibility of (1) funding the relocation of homes and businesses that have become uninsurable, and (2) including earthquakes as a peril in all-peril policies. Earthquakes must be added to the program as a covered peril at the earliest of eight years after the date of enactment or the date on which the report is submitted. Treasury must also establish a pilot program for multiyear all-perils property insurance.