By
April 10, 2014
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it is moving quickly to implement the new flood insurance law that cancels many of the large rate increases the agency had been implementing under the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act.
But some Louisiana lawmakers, including Sens.Mary Landrieu, D-La., and David Vitter, R-La., are asking the agency to quicken the pace. President Barack Obama signed the new flood insurance law on March 21.
A priority for FEMA and Louisiana lawmakers is to do away with the waived provision under Biggert-Waters that raised flood insurance rates immediately to actuarial levels once a home changes owners. In some cases, that has resulted in rates that were double, triple, even 10 times higher than previous premiums.
It virtually put a halt to home sales in some flood-prone communities.
FEMA said it is meeting with private insurance carriers that sell flood insurance policies to develop a new rate structure, but that it will take some time.
On Monday, David Miller, who administers the flood insurance program, responded to a letter from Landrieu that asked for quicker implementation with an update on the agency's actions.
Miller wrote that the top priority was to restore subsidized rates for homes that change owners.
The second priority, he wrote Landrieu, is to develop a procedure to make refunds for people who bought new homes and suddenly found, at least in some cases, dramatically higher premiums because of the now cancelled Biggert-Waters provision ending subsidized rates once a home changes hands.
"Today, we held a consultation call with all the Write Your Own companies and presented a potential implementation concept for their consideration, as required by law," Miller wrote Landrieu. "As a result, we are seeking input and specific data from them on the first priority action. Once we have this information, we anticipate that we could issue guidance to WYO companies -- within the next couple weeks -- to swiftly restore subsidized rates upon the renewal or purchase of a policy."
Landrieu said fast action is needed.
"Our constituents cannot afford to pay $10,000 or $20,000 premiums and wait around for refunds," Landrieu said. "Subsidized rates must be restored immediately, and I will continue to hold FEMA accountable until this bill is fully implemented."
Vitter and two of his Senate Republican colleagues Thursday requested a meeting with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate to push for faster implementation of the recently enacted flood insurance law.
"Are you kidding us?" Vitter said. "It's been nearly a month since we've passed the law and FEMA has done virtually nothing to protect flood insurance policy holders. FEMA needs to take action immediately because if policies lapse, people could literally lose their homes -- a risk that new rates would protect against."
Signing onto the letter were Sens. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and John Hoeven, R-N.D.
Louisiana officials have reported mixed results since the new law was signed.
Although FEMA hasn't implemented the new law, just word that those higher premiums for new homeowners will eventually be cancelled and the increases refunded, has helped previously dormant real estate markets.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said he's heard from three homeowners who have recently managed to sell homes that had been on the market a long time without buyers because of the now-cancelled provisions of Biggert-Waters.
St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said he's also been told that six homes recently sold in neighborhoods where there had been virtually no sales for more than a year because of Biggert-Waters.
The issue is critical, he said, because the inability to sell homes led to lower property assessments and that means less tax revenue for schools and government services.
No comments:
Post a Comment