ENROLLED
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Regular Session, 2013
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 141
BY REPRESENTATIVES LEOPOLD, ARNOLD, BADON, BERTHELOT, BILLIOT,
WESLEY BISHOP, BROSSETT, BROWN, CHAMPAGNE, CROMER, DIXON,
GISCLAIR, GUINN, HARRISON, HAZEL, HENRY, HENSGENS, HI LL,
HOWARD, IVEY, JEFFERSON, JONES, LEGER, LOPINTO, LORUSSO, MACK,
MILLER, JAY MORRIS, NORTON, ORTEGO, RICHARD, SCHEXNAYDER, ST.
GERMAIN, THIBAUT, WHITNEY, AND WILLMOTT
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To memorialize the United States Congress to pass the Strengthen, Modernize and Reform
the National Flood Insurance Program Act and the Flood Insurance Implementation
Reform Act of 2013 or take such actions as are necessary to amend or repeal Section
205, Section 207, and any other section of the federal Biggert-Waters Flood
Insurance Reform Act of 2012 which provides for new flood insurance rate maps or
for the increase of premium fees for policyholders of the National Flood Insurance
Program.
WHEREAS, the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 was enacted to provide
previously unavailable flood insurance protection to property owners; and
WHEREAS, the National Flood Insurance Program continues to provide important
and necessary property coverage for home and business owners throughout various
Louisiana parishes, as well as counties and communities nationwide; and
WHEREAS, the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 was signed
into law on July 6, 2012; and
WHEREAS, the act calls for a revision of the flood insurance rate maps; and
WHEREAS, such revised flood insurance rate maps do not include the discounts
granted by the current rate maps to property owners who have taken action to mitigate
property damage by installing and maintaining flood control features, in conformity with the
most current federal law available to them, and in conformity with current flood insurance
rate maps; and ENROLLEDHCR NO. 141
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WHEREAS, countless Louisiana property owners have built and purchased homes
and businesses in accordance with the current flood rate insurance maps which, under the
provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, will soon enter
obsolescence; and
WHEREAS, the act also includes provisions, located in Section 207 of such act, that
eliminate the "grandfathering" of homes that were built after the existing flood insurance rate
maps in accordance with then existing laws; and
WHEREAS, by purchasing homes and businesses in accordance with the provisions
of the former flood rate insurance maps and by investing in previously owned property to
install flood mitigation features, Louisiana property owners relied on their strict compliance
with federal and state law to protect their purchases and investments; and
WHEREAS, in light of the provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform
Act of 2012, the reliance on existing flood insurance rate maps that those property owners
demonstrated is now to their personal and financial detriment; and
WHEREAS, the passage of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act
substantially and immediately devalued the investments made in all properties endowed with
flood damage mitigation measures and to properties receiving subsidized insurance premium
rates; and
WHEREAS, the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act also includes
provisions that permit the National Flood Insurance Program to increase premium rates for
many policyholders; and
WHEREAS, the elimination of these discounts combined with the certainty of
general premium rate increases will result in a premium increase of up to twenty-five percent
per year for certain Louisiana property owners over the next four years; and
WHEREAS, under the changes to the National Flood Insurance Program caused by
the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, Louisiana property owners will struggle
to pay exorbitant amounts of money or will lose their flood insurance; and
WHEREAS, a change in the ability of Louisiana property owners to insure their
homes from flood damage without bearing the burden of such a violent rise in cost may lead
to financial distress for Louisiana residents and property owners and countless other property
owners around this nation; and ENROLLEDHCR NO. 141
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WHEREAS, the premium increases to the National Flood Insurance Program, as
mandated by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, will affect the entire nation's
real estate market; and
WHEREAS, the premium increases to the National Flood Insurance Program, as
mandated by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, will affect the nation's
banking and mortgage industry; and
WHEREAS, the premium increases to communities and property owners who made
their best efforts to comply with federal law by building property in accordance with soon
to be outdated flood insurance rate maps will affect consumer confidence and the entire
nation's economy; and
WHEREAS, on May 21, 2013, the Strengthen, Modernize and Reform the National
Flood Insurance Program Act (SMART NFIP) was introduced by Senator Mary Landrieu
to address the flaws of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act; and
WHEREAS, SMART NFIP, if passed, would delay premium increases, repeal
provisions preventing new owners of sold homes to continue subsidized rates, and allow the
rebuilding of key community facilities destroyed in a disaster that lie in velocity zones; and
WHEREAS, on May 23, 2013, the Flood Insurance Implementation Reform Act of
2013 was introduced by Congressman Cedric Richmond in an effort to also address flaws
of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act; and
WHEREAS, the Flood Insurance Implementation Reform Act is co-sponsored by
Congressmen Bill Cassidy, Rodney Alexander, Charles Boustany, and Congresswomen
Doris Matsui and Maxine Waters; and
WHEREAS, the Flood Insurance Implementation Reform Act, would, if passed, in
some cases delay, up to five years, major components of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance
Reform Act, including delaying the increasing of rates previously "grandfathered"; and
WHEREAS, these instruments would address many of the concerns addressed herein;
and
WHEREAS, the United States Congress should consider the passage of the
Strengthen, Modernize and Reform and National Flood Insurance Program Act and the
Flood Insurance Implementation Reform Act of 2013, or, should neither of these acts pass,
the United States Congress should consider the amendment or the repeal of Section 205, ENROLLEDHCR NO. 141
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Section 207, and all such sections of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act which
provide for the increase of premium fees for policyholders of the National Flood Insurance
Program, in order to prevent the unduly hazardous effects it will have on home and business
owners who invested in property prior to the adoption of the new federal legislation and
flood insurance rate maps.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to undertake
the amendment or repeal of all relevant provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance
Reform Act of 2012, including passage of the Strengthen, Modernize and Reform the
National Flood Insurance Program Act and the Flood Insurance Implementation Reform Act
of 2013.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
memorialize the United States Congress to, in the absence of the amendment or repeal of all
relevant provisions of this Act, suspend adoption of new flood insurance rate maps in order
to allow communities with a substantial percentage of participation in the National Flood
Insurance Program to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the
National Flood Insurance Program to provide for the creation of new flood insurance rate
maps which do not unjustly and inequitably dispose of the rights created under existing rate
maps.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
memorialize the United States Congress to, in the absence of the amendment or repeal of all
relevant provisions of this Act, provide for a one-year period during which time property
owners, in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National
Flood Insurance Program, may enter a special enrollment period wherein property owners
may sign up or renew their current National Flood Insurance Program policy using the
current flood insurance rate maps on which they relied to purchase and build their homes and
businesses. ENROLLEDHCR NO. 141
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE