NSPS Radio Hour — Jan. 13, 11 a.m. EDT

Welcome back! The Christmas and New Year holidays are over, and a new year is ahead of us. During 2013, we are planning an ongoing series on insurance. We kicked off the year on the January 6 with a discussion about health insurance. Considering that the holiday season was just winding down at that point, and the importance of this topic, we have decided to replay that broadcast again for the January 13 show to give as many listeners as possible the opportunity to hear the important information that was discussed. Based on comments we may receive from you, the listeners, we may devote another show to the health insurance issue.

The guests on the show are Lisa Isom and Lance Perry with Assurance Risk Managers, the official agency for the NSPS Insurance Program for members.

If you are unable to listen to the show when it is being broadcasted, listen to the archive of the show at http://www.radiosandysprings.com/showpages/ACSM.php. Archives for each show are typically available for listening within a few days after the show airs.

During the show, listen for the "key question" and be the first to email the correct answer to quikstakescontest@americaswebradio.com to win a $50 gift certificate from our sponsor, Parker Davis Quik Stakes. No purchase is required to receive the gift certificate. Winners limited to once every three months.

NAPA issues report on elevation data, endorses 3DEP

When Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, in the MAP-21 Act,  (P.L. 112-141), including the highway bill, FEMA flood reform and changes to the federal student loan program, it included a variety of mapping-related provisions. A key section, 100121, required a National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) study on how FEMA can improve interagency and intergovernmental coordination on flood mapping, including a funding strategy to leverage and coordinate budgets and expenditures and establish joint funding mechanisms with other Federal agencies and units of State and local government to share the collection and utilization of data among all governmental users. The NAPA report is out.  Included is the following recommendation (page 11): “Recommendation 15: The Office of Management and Budget should use the 3DEP implementation plan for nationwide elevation data collection to guide the development of the President’s annual budget request.”  NSPS has endorsed the 3DEP program, and petitioned the Appropriations Committee in Congress to begin funding the contract program for collection of elevation data, primarily through LIDAR.

NGS Seminars/Webinars on Geodesy Topics

As part of NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) mission to provide access to the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS), and to be a leader in geospatial activities, the agency periodically conducts seminars on various subjects detailing topics in geodesy, geodetic surveying and elements of the NSRS.  The presentations are both in-class (usually conducted at the Corbin Virginia Training Center) and via  webinars.  Past webinars have been captured and can be accessed from the NGS Online Learning Resources web page which is now linked from the NSPS web site. Additional information on upcoming NGS classes and the Corbin Training Center can be found at http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/corbin/index.shtml.  

ALTA/ACSM Standards

Please send questions/comments you may have about the standards to NSPS Executive Director Curt Sumner via email at curtis.sumner@nsps.us.com. Responses will be posted in NSPS News and Views.

Question:

We’ve been asked to prepare an ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey covering multiple parcels and owners from an accumulation of multiple title commitments.  We typically prepare unsigned “base maps” based on the individual commitments, but complete the actual ALTA/ACSM Survey only after there has been a Pro Forma commitment prepared that wraps all of the individual title commitments into one.  Because of the timing of this particular project, we have been asked to complete the Survey from the individual title commitments before the final consolidated Pro Forma is issued.  Will the title companyl accept such an ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey without the Pro Forma?  What else should we be concerned with?   Can an ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey be based upon more than one title commitment?  It would also be awkward trying to label the individual parcels and exceptions on the Survey.  Do you have any thoughts about such a request?   What items should we be concerned about?  How might you reply?

Answer:

This is interesting – we usually never see a Pro Forma of the combined parcels.  In any event, it is not uncommon, and is certainly not wrong, to prepare the survey based on the individual title commitments, and reference each parcel and commitment separately.   Some thoughts/comments:

1.       If you usually do the survey relying on a combined pro forma commitment, ask the title company if they will accept it referencing the individual commitments.  I’m guessing they will.

2.       Make sure the individual parcels and easements are identified clearly, perhaps by using some sort of coding for the parcels and easements (e.g.,  “The parcel identified as ‘A’ is described in Schedule A of Chicago Title Insurance Company Title Commitment 123456; and all easements identified with the prefix ‘A’ (i.e., A-8, A-14, etc.) are the exceptions as numbered in title commitment no. 123456.  The parcel identified as ‘B’ is described in Schedule A of Chicago Title Insurance Company Title Commitment No. 789123; and all easements identified with the prefix ‘B’ (i.e., B-6, B-13, etc.) are the exceptions as numbered in title commitment no. 789123.”)

3.       Make sure that the client and lender will be fine with this.  It is my experience that sometimes they may want a separate survey for each parcel being acquired.

Senate May Take Up FEMA Flood Reform Delay

The U.S. Senate may soon consider changes to the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, the 2012 law that reformed the FEMA flood insurance program, including its risk mapping activities.

The Senate is expected to move as early as Wednesday, January 8 to consider legislation that would delay for four years any phase-outs of premium subsidies for second homes and business properties insured by the National Flood Insurance Program. The bill also would halt efforts to update the NFIP's Flood Insurance Rate Maps and to phase-in appropriate risk-based rates for those properties whose designations have changed.

Because the NFIP's statutory authority is scheduled to expire at the end of 2017, a four-year delay would effectively gut reforms that were passed by Congress by overwhelming margins in 2012. The NFIP remains roughly $24 billion in debt to U.S. taxpayers and hasn't repaid any principal on its loans since 2010.