Great News for all property owners close to water Re Flood Insurance. By Brendan Kirby | bkirby@al Email the author | Follow on Twitter on March 13, 2014 at 6:08 PM, updated March 13, 2014 at 6:59 PM Alabamas U.S. senators split on a flood insurance bill passed on Thursday, March 13, 2014. Richard Shelby, left, voted against the bill, while Sen. Jeff Sessions voted yes. The bill would cancel large, sudden premium increases set to take effect under a 2012 law. The U.S. Senate on Thursday adopted the House version of a bill that would save flood insurance policyholders – including tens of thousands in Alabama and Mississippi – from dramatic premium increases mandated under a 2012 law. Alabama’s senators were split on the 72-22 vote. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, voted “yes,” while Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, cast a “no” vote. Both men had voted against and earlier Senate bill that essentially delayed the current provisions from taking effect for 18 months. Sessions could not immediately be reached for comment, but an aide noted that the House bill was paid for and would not interfere with the ability of states to regulate insurance producers, as some feared the Senate version would have. He said that ensuring “a fair flood insurance plan” for Alabamians is important to Sessions. In a prepared statement, Shelby reiterated his opposition to government subsidies that have created a $24 billion debt in the National Flood Insurance Program. “The NFIP is tens of billions of dollars in debt,” he said. “Strong bipartisan majorities just recently enacted necessary reforms to ensure the viability of the program and protect taxpayers. Undermining those reforms is a mistake.” Thursday’s vote enjoyed strong bipartisan support. It drew opposition from a group of mostly conservative Republican senators. Most senators representing coasting states voted for the bill, though. For instance, Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and tea party favorite, voted for the bill. Advocates for flood insurance recipients praised the vote. “I think this is positive that Congress in general has realized some of the mistakes they made with the first bill,” said Wiley Blankenship, president and CEO of the Coastal Alabama Partnership. “This is good news. … Now we’ve got something manageable. It’s not perfect. Nothing ever is.” Blankenship’s group has made flood insurance reform one of its top priorities. The bill that now will be sent to President Barack Obama contains some of the provisions of legislation that the Senate passed Jan. 30. Instead of delaying the premium hikes scheduled under the 2012 law, though, in cancels them. It also preserves a “grandfather” clause that allows property owners to keep low rates on insurance for buildings constructed before new requirements that later took effect, and to pass those rates on when someone else buys the property. The bill would limit premium increases to an average of 15 percent per year and guarantees that no policy holder would pay more than 18 percent per year. It also directs that the Federal Emergency Management Agency try to keep rates to no more than 1 percent of the value of their coverage for most policyholders. A policy offering $150,000 protection, for instance, would be no more than $1,500. Some insurance recipients even will see refunds under the bill if they bought properties after the 2012 law and incurred large rate hikes when they received renewal notices. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, who voted in the 306-91 majority earlier this month, welcomed Thursday’s vote in the Senate. “I thank the Senate for their quick passage of this flood insurance proposal that provides relief to coastal Alabama residents from skyrocketing policies while bringing the National Flood Insurance Program back to fiscal solvency,” he said in a prepared statement. “This bill makes significant reforms to the program, providing an enhanced affordability study to inform the decisions of our elected leaders and empowering communities and homeowners to challenge flood maps without adding a dollar to the deficit.”
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 01:52:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015