Rice, Donovan introduce flood insurance reform bill

Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) has teamed up with Rep. Dan Donovan (R-Staten Island) to introduce legislation this week to reform the National Flood Insurance Program, which was accused of underpaying homeowners after superstorm Sandy.

The legislation, similar to a Senate bill introduced in October by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), would require more transparency about claims from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which runs the flood insurance program. It would also close loopholes used to deny coverage and make it easier for homeowners to appeal claim denials.

In the months after the 2012 storm, more than 2,000 homeowners in New York and New Jersey filed lawsuits accusing the flood insurance program of underpayments. In 2014, a judge concluded that engineers falsified documents to deny some of the settlements, prompting FEMA to launch a sweeping process to review up to 142,000 claims.

"Too many people were left feeling cheated by a program that they trusted to be there when they needed it most," Rice said in a statement announcing the bill. "This bipartisan legislation is a critical first step toward restoring that trust."