Residents of southern Plaquemines Parish applauded the first steps taken by the United States House of Representatives to delay the implementation of the flood insurance premium increases which would be seen by homeowners in this area.  The amendment introduced by Rep. Dr. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge passed with a vote of 281-146.  All Louisiana delegates worked together to push this bill forward.  There was also plenty of bipartisan support.

Parish president Billy Nungesser also applauded this first step in making sure that Plaquemines Parish residents’ homes which were “grandfathered” into the Biggert-Waters Act’s flood insurance requirements would not be hit with exponential premium increases.

“Dr. Cassidy proved he’s the real leader on flood insurance with the passage of the Cassidy Amendment,” said Parish President Billy Nungesser. “I’m glad Dr. Cassidy took action and moved the ball forward on protecting Louisiana homeowners from NFIP rate hikes. The Cassidy Amendment is a real bi-partisan success.”

While the amendment, being dubbed the “Cassidy Amendment,” only delays the inevitable rate increase, it does give Congress “breathing room” to come up with a permanent solution.  Also, this amendment is only for one year, and it only passed the House, not the Senate.  Efforts in the Senate are being driven by Senator Mary Landrieu who was stymied by Senator Pat Toomey, R-PA, who blocked an amendment which Landrieu had proposed for a 3-year delay in order to come up with a concrete solution.

The amendment which Landrieu proposed was attached to a federal farm bill and was opposed not solely on its own merits.  More information and discussion was needed, and Landrieu has put in the time and effort to convince her colleagues that the amendment is not only necessary but vital to the survival of any kind of housing market in Southern Louisiana.

“We do believe that we can fix, amend or modify to mitigate against some of these extraordinary increases in a smarter, more compassionate, fiscally smart way,” Landrieu said. “We just need time to figure that out.”

Sens. David Vitter and Thad Cochran endeavor to take things one step further by not only delaying implementation of the Biggert-Waters Act but also reforming the Act of major “flaw in the design.”  Their bill is called the Responsible Implementation of Flood insurance Reform Act.  One of the standouts of these flaws is that the new Flood Insurance Maps do not take into account non-federal, local improvements including an entire construction process of what are called 50-year flood improvements – in the case of a type of storm which could hit the area twice in a 100-year time period.  The only improvements which are now being included or given consideration are the federally mandated and approved 100-year storm flood protection systems. However, individual parishes currently have projects going and are building levees and pump stations which would greatly mitigate the effects of storms and also change the required elevations of new and existing homes in the areas.

As it is, the flood insurance premium increases would be so cost prohibitive to homeownership in some portions of South Louisiana as to make people move away from the area.  Much work still needs to be done both to bolster the failing national flood insurance program, which is not only underfunded but losing money at a rapid rate; but also to reform the Biggert-Waters Act designed to fix the system.  Both House and Senate hope for bipartisan support moving forward in this process.

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Rep. Maxine Waters, one of the authors of the Biggert-Waters Act said that she never intended the bill to have such far-reaching and catastrophic consequences for residents who live outside federal levee protection, especially in South Louisiana.  It actually seems that no one checked to see how the elimination of federal subsidies and the reorganization of the Flood Elevation Maps to redefine flood-prone areas would affect the “real-time” flood insurance rates.

As an example of such a serious oversight by members of Congress, one Plaquemines Parish resident who currently pays $638/year in flood insurance, according to the parameters of the new flood maps and non-existent subsidies, will now pay $28,000/year.  That’s an almost 44% increase in the resident’s flood insurance rate, not to mention the price of a new car or a down payment on a new house.  Oh, and even though the house is outside the federal levee system, it’s never been flooded – not in Hurricanes Isaac or Katrina.

With these statistics in hand, 14 parish leaders from Louisiana traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with the House Financial Services Committee and FEMA to “give them a head’s up” as to the real implications of the Biggert-Waters Act according to Jefferson Parish President John Young.  In this meeting, Louisiana officials were informed by congressional and federal officials that they were completely unaware of THIS effect of the legislation.

“They were very surprised and shocked at the consequences,” Young said, adding the Louisiana officials were the first “to advise them of the unintended consequences. They really had no clue of the consequences of this legislation.”

Meanwhile, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu with the support of legislative officials from New York and New Jersey which were also enormously impacted by the Biggert-Waters Act is now on her second bill to get the flood insurances premium increases delayed until a solution can be found.  Her first bill was blocked by Sen. Patrick Toomey from Pennsylvania because of other aspects of the bill not addressing the Biggert-Waters Act Amendment.

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