The House approved legislation Tuesday night to roll back a recently enacted overhaul of the federal flood insurance program, after homeowners in flood-prone areas complained about sharp premium increases.
The bill would allow sellers to pass along their subsidized, below-market insurance rates to new buyers and lower the limit on how much flood insurance premiums can rise each year. The measure was approved 306-91.
Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who co-sponsored the bill, said it would ensure that families across the country, including those still struggling to recover from Superstorm Sandy, can avoid “a wave of devastating premium hikes and foreclosures.”
The bipartisan bill would tone down a 2012 law aimed at weaning hundreds of thousands of homeowners off subsidized flood insurance rates. The federal flood insurance program is now some $24 billion in the red, mostly because of huge losses from Sandy and Hurricane Katrina. The 2012 law required extensive updating of the flood maps used to set premiums.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which passed a measure in January delaying implementation of the insurance overhaul by four years.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., sponsor of the Senate bill, said Tuesday night he supports the House measure, which he said closely mirrors his bill.
The House bill “will end the most egregious problems with the flood insurance program and bring some real relief to thousands of homeowners who desperately need our help,” Menendez said in a statement. “I’m encouraged by this progress and hope we can bring the bill over the finish line very, very soon.”
The 2012 law was co-sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who also co-sponsored the latest fix to what she called the original law’s “unintended effects” of dramatic rate increases for homeowners.
“Relief is on the way,” Waters said, adding that the new bill would make insurance premiums more affordable while making the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administers the flood program, more accountable.
Some GOP lawmakers complained that the Republican-controlled House was going along with a measure widely supported by Democrats. A total of 180 Democrats joined 126 Republicans in supporting the bill.
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Reprinted with permission of the Associated Press.
