FEMA's Fugate Tells Lawmakers 'I Need your Help'
After overwhelmingly passing legislation in 2012 to bring rates at the federal flood insurance program to actuarially-sound levels, members of the Senate Banking Committee sought to distance themselves from the measure.
At a Sept. 18 hearing, senators from Oregon to Massachusetts talked about implementation and affordability concerns in anticipation of angry voter feedback as they begin to open higher flood insurance bills starting Oct. 1.
The rate increases—as high as 3,000 percent in some cases, according to members of the committee—reflect mandates in the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012, which the same lawmakers supported in an attempt to bring fiscal stability to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
“This is not some parochial Louisiana issue, this is a national issue,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana. "We might be feeling it first, but this movie is coming to a theater near you.”
“We don’t have an affordability study, but we’re charging people unaffordable rates,” lamented Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “What happens if people just drop out of the program?”
Schumer says new flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) do not consider recent steps taken by the state to mitigate flood losses.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., offered, "Over time, I agree it makes sense to move to market rates for flood insurance, but why does it make sense for FEMA to implement the new rates at the same time they're updating the flood maps? There is a major impact on first time home buyers. Homeowners in Massachusetts are being asked to pay thousands of dollars that they weren’t asked to pay before. And seniors on fixed income don’t know what to do.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who led the hearing as chairman of the Economic Policy Subcommittee, cited the problem of homeowners involved in having forced-placed insurance purchased by their lenders when they are informed that they need to buy coverage, “either because of new maps or lenders enforcing a flood insurance requirement.”
He also voiced concerns about people being unable to sell homes because flood insurance rates would soar for the new owner.
Craig Fugate, NFIP administrator as head of FEMA, responded to the onslaught from committee members by agreeing that the law mandates increases that raise affordability issues, but said his hands are tied.
“Let me put my cards on the table, I need your help. I have not found, my attorneys have not found a way ... I do not have the answer you are looking for. I need your help. Without additional legislative support ... I cannot address it,” Fugate said.
He said the affordability study mandated by the law is unlikely to be completed until 2015, but that the law does not tie the implementation of the reforms to the completion of the study.
“I fully believe we should stop subsidizing risk as we go forward for new construction, for secondary homes and for businesses,” said Fugate, adding at the same time, "I think we need to look at affordability for people who live there, look at how we can mitigate risk in the future and not grow our risk."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., says she is calling on Congress to repeal, delay or amend Biggerts-Waters.
"[This] isn’t just about what’s happening on the coast, but about the tragedy that’s unfolding right now in Colorado, and what recently happened in New York, New Jersey and along the East Coast with the devastation of Hurricane Sandy," she said. "This is an issue that affects our entire nation and it must be addressed.”
Landrieu called the legislation "premature," and "not well thought out."
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