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Scalise: Significance of House proposal to reform Biggert-Waters cannot be understated

February 22, 2014

Washington, DC – Congressman Steve Scalise today issued the following statement after unveiling the details of H.R. 3370, the House proposal to reform the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Act of 2012 (BW-12). The proposal provides Louisianans with serious, long-term solutions to the unworkable BW-12 flood insurance rate increases.

"Louisiana's families deserve real, long-term solutions that will give certainty and peace of mind to homeowners while doing more than simply delaying an unworkable law, and that's exactly what our flood insurance reform bill provides," Scalise said. “The significance of this proposal cannot be understated. The flood insurance program has lapsed or nearly expired 18 separate times over the last five years, and led to the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012. Long-term, substantive structural solutions have always been the stated objective of NFIP reforms, and we cannot afford to lose sight of that goal now as we work to create certainty that ends the last five years of uncertainty and lapses. I’m thankful for the continued hard-work of the bipartisan House flood insurance coalition who have put politics aside and rallied around this reform proposal. I will not stop working until we get real flood insurance reform, and I look forward to passage of this proposal next week.”

Specifically, the proposal that will be voted on by the House next week would:

  • Halt the elimination of grandfathered rates by repealing Section 207 of BW-12 and decoupling automatic increases in premium rates from the implementation of new flood maps.
  • Be retroactive for people already paying BW-12 premiums.
  • Remove the trigger that applies instant actuarial rates to people who buy a new home.