Cassidy Introduces Flood Insurance Reform Legislation

Press Release

Today, Congressman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) proposed the Flood Insurance Relief and Transparency Act of 2013 (HR 3693), which would delay flood insurance rate hikes and force FEMA to be more transparent when making flood insurance rate adjustments. Congressman Cassidy released the following statement:

"I am pleased to announce the next step in our work to ensure that flood insurance remains both accessible and affordable. Today, I am introducing legislation that will prevent certain rate hikes on homeowners and businesses. The legislation will provide additional funding to expedite FEMA's affordability study to ensure flood rates are fair for Louisiana families. Further, the legislation will require FEMA to be more transparent and give Louisiana families more options.

"This legislation is part of a multi-step approach to achieve the goal of flood insurance reform. I will be working with my colleagues in a bipartisan manner to get a vote on this relief measure in both the House and Senate before Congress adjourns for the year."

The economic ramifications surrounding unaffordable flood insurance has the potential to devastate home values, small businesses and entire communities across the country. Since the U.S. House of Representatives took action in early June to delay certain flood insurance rate hikes, FEMA has released its Specific Rate Guidelines; confirming fears of sudden and steep rate increases for many Americans. FEMA has rushed to implement rate hikes on homeowners without implementing the portions of Biggert-Waters 2012 that could help offset the costly premium increases. For example:

FEMA is years away from completing the affordability study mandated by the Biggert-Waters Act.
FEMA has only begun to administer its revised Levee Analysis and Mapping Procedure designed to take into account the protection non-accredited levees and flood protection features provide when assessing a community's true flood risk.
In addition, flood mapping inaccuracy continues to be a prevalent concern within communities across the country. Many map accuracy problems and successful map appeals resulted from FEMA having used inaccurate or outdated data concerning land elevation and landscape features, in some cases data that is decades old, which causes "mis-mapping."
To top it off, FEMA has not yet administered a program that would allow homeowners to make monthly installments on their insurance premiums. Instead, FEMA expects skyrocketing flood insurance premiums to be paid all at once.
Many policyholders cannot afford nor will pay exorbitant flood insurance premiums and a depopulation of the program could threaten the National Flood Insurance Program's solvency. This sporadic implementation of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 is destroying home values, real estate markets, and the overall fiscal stability of NFIP.

H.R. 3693, the Flood Insurance Relief and Transparency Act of 2013, is the next step in a multi-prong strategy to provide relief to policyholders. H.R. 3693 will prevent rate hikes on certain homeowners and businesses. The legislation will provide more funding to expedite FEMA's affordability study. In addition, the legislation will require FEMA to be more transparent with proposed rate adjustments and will require the agency to provide policyholders with the option to make monthly installments on their flood insurance premiums.

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