2024 Policy Priorities

The authority for the NFIP to function has been extended on a short-term basis nearly 30 times since 2017. The NFIP’s most recent five-year reauthorization expired in 2017, and, in advance of that deadline, the 115th Congress was unable to agree on NFIP reforms. PIA supports a long-term reauthorization of the program with needed reforms, like investments in agent training, updated mapping, and a means-tested affordability program. 

For more details on PIA’s advocacy in the area of flood insurance, please visit the Flood Insurance section of the PIA Policy Priorities webpage. 

PIA supports the federal crop insurance program, a highly technical program which relies on the expertise of independent insurance agents. The program requires private-sector insurance carriers to offer crop insurance to eligible growers who are interested in purchasing it. The process of reauthorizing the Farm Bill, which includes the federal crop insurance program, is ongoing. PIA will continue to help policymakers understand the critical role PIA’s independent agent members play in providing crop insurance as the Farm Bill reauthorization process moves forward. 

For more details on PIA’s advocacy in the area of crop insurance, please visit the Crop Insurance section of the PIA Policy Priorities webpage. 

PIA strongly supports legislation to protect insurance agents and carriers from federal criminal liability for engaging in the business of insurance with cannabis-related entities in states where cannabis is legal. PIA’s position respects state insurance laws and the primacy of the state insurance regulatory system. We seek to protect independent agents from criminal liability for engaging in business activities that are legal pursuant to state law.

For more details on PIA’s advocacy in the area of cannabis financial services, please visit the Cannabis Safe Harbor section of the PIA Priorities webpage. 

PIA supports legislation to repeal or reform the Federal Insurance Office (FIO), a federal body overseen by the Treasury Department. Congress created the FIO in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and it is an ongoing threat to the successful state insurance regulatory system. 

For more details on PIA’s efforts to repeal or reform the FIO, please visit the FIO section of the PIA Policy Priorities webpage. 

Following the passage of the 2017 tax reform law, which made available a deduction of up to 20 percent for qualifying small businesses organized as S sorporations, PIA successfully advocated for insurance agents to be included among those eligible for the deduction. Since then, eligible independent agencies have used this deduction to strengthen their businesses and provide for their families. Unfortunately, unlike the permanent tax cuts provided to C corporations by the 2017 law, the passthrough deduction as passed is temporary and will expire on December 31, 2025, unless Congress extends it. PIA will continue to urge Congress to provide eligible independent agencies with much-needed financial certainty and stability by making this tax benefit permanent.

For more details on PIA’s advocacy on tax issues, please visit the Tax section of the PIA Policy Priorities webpage.

For more information on any of PIA’s 2022 Issues of Focus, please contact Jon Gentile, PIA’s vice president of government relations, at jgentile@pianational.org.