Flood insurance fix in 2013 unlikely

By Xerxes Wilson
Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, December 14, 2013 at 6:01 a.m.

It’s unlikely Congress will take action this year to delay flood insurance reforms brought about by the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012 after two attempts to bring legislation to a vote failed this week.

U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy pushed a bill in the House of Representatives, but his office said Friday it will not come to a vote before Christmas as previously hoped.

“It’s deeply disappointing that the Flood Insurance Relief and Transparency Act was not brought to the floor. The bill would have brought relief to millions of people across the country, including 400,000 people in Louisiana. This remains one of my top priorities and I will continue to work with both sides of the aisle to make sure we help those impacted,” the Baton Rouge Republican said Friday.

Another effort in the Senate to bring legislation to a vote also fell short this week.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., tried to bring the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act to a vote in the Senate this week through a method called unanimous consent, which requires no opposition.

But opposition came from Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, who objected on behalf of the ranking member of the Senate’s banking committee, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

“This bill has not been through the committee process and would undo the important rate reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program that were put in place in the most recent flood reform bill to address the program’s $25 billion debt to the taxpayer,” Roberts told the Senate. “We must ensure that all members have the opportunity to understand and weigh in on the changes being made by this action. This unanimous consent request would bypass this important step in the legislative process, and I object.”

The legislation would have delayed reforms tied to the flood insurance program for four years and expedite an affordability study of the reforms. The four-year delay would essentially run out the clock on the reforms as the legislation would have to be reauthorized by Congress at the end of that period.

Landrieu said she is committed to seeing the legislation through to a vote and is confident it would pass.

Michael Hecht, head of GNO Inc., an economic development nonprofit that has been combating the reforms, said it’s likely the legislation will take the traditional route through the committee process in the new year.

Hecht said the legislation will face its toughest test getting through the House, but there is confidence it can pass as it has 144 House members as co-sponsors.

Cassidy’s legislation also has broad support in the House, according to his staff.

Cassidy’s legislation would delay increases tied the removal of grandfathered rates.

Historically, homeowners have been allowed to keep costs tied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s prescribed elevation at the time a structure was built. Over the years, FEMA revised the flood-risk maps, but homeowners kept their rates.

The Biggert-Waters Act ends such grandfathering and considers a building’s height against the new maps when a municipality accepts them to determine flood risk. This has meant homeowners who earlier built at FEMA’s prescribed elevation can find themselves below the new prescribed height and be charged a so-called punitive rate.

Cassidy’s bill would delay such increases until March 2015. However, officials in both Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes have said they don’t expect new maps to be close to approval by then.

On Friday, Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet noted the legislation originating in the Senate would go further to stem off potentially exorbitant increases.

Proponents say the Biggert-Waters Act is necessary to put the flood insurance program on solid financial footing and ensure that damage claims can be paid.

Opponents, including many south Louisiana politicians, business people and residents, said the law’s provisions will make flood insurance unaffordable for thousands of coastal residents and people who live in other flood-prone areas.