Rep. Maxine Waters assures delay to her NFIP Bill by end of year

Part of Rep. Maxine Waters’, right, visit to Plaquemines Parish included meeting
with residents who are greatly affected by the Biggert-Waters Act. One stop was
with Braithwaite resident Kathy Gonzales, center. They had to meet in her camper
parked in front of her gutted house. Gonzales was hesitant to invent any more money
in her home of 35 year, which flooded in Isaac but not Katrina, if flood insurance
was un-affordable. Councilman P.V. Griffin, left, who organized Rep. Waters’ visit
took her to four other homes on the Eastbank. Photo by Terri A. Sercovich

Nov 18th, 2013 | By Terri Sercovich

Rep. Maxine Waters, co-sponsor of the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act, came to Plaquemines Parish last Friday to inform and reassure residents that her legislation that radically changed the National Flood Insurance Program will be delayed before the end of the year.

She was very confident that by December the House will pass the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (H.R. 3370); it already has 90 co-authors including Louisiana’s Representatives Cedric Richmond, Bill Cassidy, Charles Boustany and Steve Scalise.

This effort is bicameral (both House and Senate) and a similar bill should also pass the Senate by year’s end, said Waters.

The bill includes a four-year delay to the implementation of the 2012 act. This, Waters says, will be enough time for FEMA to complete an affordability study, which was mandated by Biggert-Waters but ignored. It will also create an advocate who will be a voice for flood insurance policy holders and who will ensure that FEMA does not ignore future mandates.

FEMA
The Biggert-Waters Act stipulated that FEMA do two specific things:
1- Improve accuracy of flood maps
2- Conduct an affordability study

“But FEMA decided not to complete either one of these tasks,” explained  Waters. “Instead it just announced dramatic rate increases for many of its policy holders. FEMA, in my estimation, has distorted the intentions of a well-meaning piece legislation and has caused grief to families coast-to-coast. This could have been avoided.”

FEMA is asking for $2 million to now conduct that study, said Waters.

Councilman P.V. Griffin
When Plaquemines Parish started realizing the implications of Biggert-Waters, Councilman P.V. Griffin went to the source of the Bill.

“[Griffin] came to Washington D.C.,” recalled Waters. “He went to the White House unannounced, and then he came over to the House of Representatives. He came to my office without an appointment but he made me stop and listen, he got my attention.”Rep. Waters credits Councilman P.V. Griffin for bringing the “unintended consequences” of the Biggert-Waters Act to her attention.

“He walked the halls, he knocked on doors,” said Waters. “He wanted me to understand what was happening… the harm it could cause.”

“He told me I had to come to Plaquemines Parish, and here I am,” said Waters.

Now the co-author of the legislation, a congresswoman from California, is the loudest voice to delay her namesake bill.

“I am deeply troubled by the increased cost of flood insurance premiums that has resulted in the Biggert-Waters legislation. I’ve seen the harm and distress that these have caused to thousands of American families. These were indeed unintended consequences.”

As stated before, Rep. Waters said the bill to delay Biggerts-Waters—  Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (H.R. 3370)— will be voted on before the end of the year.

From there, she the four year clock will begin. Congress must see that the FEMA studies are complete and again start tackling the issue of how to make the national flood insurance program not only affordable for policy holders, but also viable for years to come.