The fight to block sharp increases in federal flood insurance premiums continues.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said Friday that she will introduce legislation soon to delay implementation of a 2012 flood insurance law that is leading to sharply higher premiums for policyholders. The new legislative effort comes one week after Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., blocked her proposal to add the legislation to a water resources bill, which passed the Senate on Wednesday.
Also Friday, Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, who is challenging Landrieu in the 2014 Louisiana Senate race, announced formation of a congressional Home Protection Caucus to fight premium increases.
The issue is touchy for Louisiana congressional members — given that all of them voted last June for a transportation bill that included the new flood insurance legislation designed to make the program more self-sufficient. The legislation was a tough bill for Louisiana lawmakers to oppose because it contained the Restore Act, which designates 85 percent of any Clean Water Act fines from the BP oil spill to the Gulf Coast, and also funded Louisiana highway and transportation projects.
At the time, the only Louisiana lawmaker to publicly speak out against the flood insurance changes was Landrieu, who warned the so-called Biggert-Waters flood insurance legislation would have adverse consequences for policyholders. She complained that since the bill was included in a “take-it-or-leave-it package,” it was impossible to add provisions protecting homeowners from unaffordable increases.
Cassidy said his new flood insurance caucus includes Sen.David Vitter, R-La., and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, as well as lawmakers from New York and Mississippi, among others. A Cassidy staffer said the caucus was originally intended as a House caucus, but was adjusted after Vitter asked to join.
“Flood insurance is critical not only to South Louisiana but to coastal communities across the country,” Cassidy said. “This is why I am working to make it both available and affordable. The Biggert-Waters Act was the only way to make it available. Unfortunately, it has been implemented in a way by FEMA to make the insurance unaffordable.”
FEMA has said it is simply implementing the flood insurance law, which requires the National Flood Insurance program to raise rates to reflect true flood risk, make the program more financially stable, and change how Flood Insurance Rate Map updates impact policyholders.
Most rate increase are limited to 20 or 25 percent a year, depending on a property’s designation. Louisiana has 486,000 national flood insurance policyholders.
Some homeowners said that that they face huge hikes because homes that complied with elevation rules when they were built are now labeled out-of-compliance.
Louisiana officials and leaders of Greater New Orleans Inc. held a news conference Friday at the Des Allemands home of Robert and Lisa Taylor, who say they are facing flood insurance premiums of $28,000.
“The people and businesses of South Louisiana support a sustainable, fiscally responsible National Flood Insurance Program that protects the businesses and homeowners who built according to code and have followed all applicable laws,” said Michael Hecht, president and CEO of GNO, Inc. “However, changes made to the NFIP in the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012 threaten to harm the very citizens the program was designed to protect.”
Vitter, who attended the news conference, said Congress must “make sure that people who have been following the rules aren’t priced out of their homes because their flood insurance rates increase so dramatically.”
During a GNO-led trip to Washington last week, South Louisiana parish leaders did secure one victory — when a FEMA official announced the agency will include locally funded levees in flood control maps. The agency previously decided the local levees would not be included — causing those properties to be considered greater flood risks, mandating higher premiums.
Some parish leaders lashed out at Sen. Toomey for blocking a vote on the Landrieu amendment.
“Senator Toomey’s action blocking a vote to amend Biggert-Waters is a minor setback, suggesting that politics is more important than people,” said Natalie Robottom, St. John the Baptist Parish President. “We disagree and our efforts will not be detoured. The NFIP rate increases will destroy coastal Louisiana, coastal states and all other areas with the potential to flood. We cannot sit back and allow this to happen.”
Toomey said it isn’t right to continue to subsidize high-risk policy holders.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, one of the authors of the 2012 flood insurance legislation, said Saturday it was not her intent to cause punitive and unaffordable premium hikes for residents of South Louisiana and vowed to work with congressional members and the Obama administration to find a fix.
