Landrieu Announces Start of Flood Insurance Refunds to La. Homeowners
Senator secured cap limiting annual rate increases in bill that reforms flood insurance program
|
WASHINGTON –U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu’s, D-La., Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, announced that refunds to Louisiana flood insurance policyholders begin today. These refunds result from the passage of Sen. Landrieu’s Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act that became law earlier this year. “The October 1st bulletin is an important milestone in implementing the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, but it is also a stark reminder that our work is far from done. While new policies issued after October 1st will be subject to the 18 percent annual rate cap that Rep. Richmond and I insisted be included, new policies issued after October 1st will also include the mandatory rate increases demanded by House Republicans. As Chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, I will continue to hold FEMA accountable throughout the implementation process to ensure that homeowners get the refunds and relief they deserve,” said Sen. Landrieu. SEN. LANDRIEU’S ONGOING EFFORTS TO BE A BETTER, MORE AFFORDABLE FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM In June, Sen. Landrieu announced that she included $100 million for FEMA to update and correct flawed flood maps across the country as part of her ongoing efforts to build a more affordable National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The Senator reversed the President’s $11-million cut to the program and added an additional $5 million after David Miller, the head of FEMA’s NFIP, testified in May that most of the nation’s flood maps are not accurate and reliable. When added to the $121 million in fees dedicated to mapping activities, the bill provides $221 million total for updating flood maps. The funding is part of the bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security for FY2015 and keeps the promises that Sen. Landrieu made earlier this month in New Orleans to reverse the President’s shortsighted cut to the program. Called the Paul Revere of flood insurance for her early warnings about the flawed 2012 Biggert-Waters flood insurance bill, Sen. Landrieu worked to build a bipartisan and geographically diverse coalition of senators to repeal the most pernicious provisions of the law and to return affordability as the centerpiece of the National Flood Insurance Program. She was instrumental in adding additional affordability protections in the final version of the bill. One of those provisions, the 18 percent individual annual property cap, is being implemented currently to prevent skyrocketing year-over-year rate increases. This follows her announcement that the property sales trigger, which had frozen the real-estate market and threatened to rob middle class families of their wealth, is gone. View a timeline of Sen. Landrieu's work to fix flood insurance and learn more about her #MyHomeMyStory effort, a movement to make flood insurance affordable. In May, Sen. Landrieu pressed FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate on the accuracy of FEMA’s flood maps and requested a breakdown of which of the nation’s flood maps are up to date. Her questioning followed the announcement that FEMA fully repealed one of the most harmful provisions from Biggert-Waters that made it impossible for new buyers of homes or businesses to assume a property’s existing flood insurance policy. The provision, repealed by the Home Flood Insurance Affordability Act, had frozen real estate markets throughout the nation and threatened to wipe out the equity thousands of middle class families had built in their homes.
- 30 - |
|
