Flood Insurance Resources

As a Fort Bend County resident, I want to alert you of some recent developments in Congress that could affect your home and our community.

 

H.R. 3121, as recently amended and passed in the U.S. Senate, contains a mandotry flood insurance provision. Essentially this means any resident whose home is situated behind a man-made levee or dam, which can apply to thousands of Fort Bend County residents may be designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as living in a designated "residual risk area," and if this bill becomes law, would be forced to purchase expensive flood insurance for their home.

 

I am working vigorously in Congress to ensure that this provision never becomes law. I have sent a letter to Chairman Dodd of the Senate Banking Committee and Chairman Frank of the House Financial Services Committee calling for them not to include this provision. I have also worked with nearly twenty of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to send a separate letter to the Senate asking to remove the provision and instead include a study on the effects of flood insurance mandates. I have included a copy of both of these letters for your reference.

 

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created to help Americans recover from floods by offering affordable flood insurance. The program is set to expire on September 30th 2008.  H.R. 3121, which reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program, passed the House in September 2007 without a mandatory flood insurance purchase requirement. In May, the Senate amended this bill and included the flood insurance purchase requirement. Under the Senate’s version of the bill, civil monetary penalties for failure to notify or require flood insurance can incur fines of $2000.

 

Fort Bend County has spent millions of dollars to protect against floods, exceeding government standards in some instances. The Senate’s heavy handed, reactionary approach treats all levees around the country the same, and disregards efforts to build stronger levees, thrusting a huge expense onto homeowners and small businesses.

 

We have a duty to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. Before Congress makes laws that impacts millions we should thoroughly evaluate the situation and the effects of proposed solutions. The common sense compromise I’m pushing for would provide a comprehensive evaluation of our levee system to assess the risk to flood zone residents and economic impact; details that currently are merely speculative.

 

If I can ever be of assistance to you or your family in any way, please do not hesitate to be in touch. My offices in Stafford (281-240-3700) and Clear Lake (281-461-6300) are here to serve you.

 

Sincerely,

NICK LAMPSON

Member of Congress