Bill to let LI homeowners pass along flood insurance subsidies gains bipartisan support
Flooding occurs along the streets of New Suffolk during superstorm Sandy. (Oct. 29, 2012) Credit: Randee Daddona
Bipartisan legislation that would allow thousands of Long Islanders to continue passing their flood-insurance subsidies along to buyers when they sell their homes cleared its first hurdle in the Senate Monday.
The 86-13 vote demonstrated the measure had filibuster-proof support in the chamber, which was likely to pass it in a few days.
"This is a giant step forward," Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. "The fact that the vote was so overwhelming makes it much more likely that we will pass the bill this week, providing thousands of homeowners in New York with relief."
The legislation would roll back reforms made in 2012 to the federal flood insurance program as an attempt to lift it from debt and bring insurance rates more in line with the real risk of flooding.
Critics say ending the long-running practice of grandfathering subsidies to buyers has hurt real estate values, as home shoppers are being told their premiums could rise tenfold. The problem is acute on Long Island, where up to 25,000 houses have discounted flood policies.
In much of the rest of the country, the Senate legislation would delay a rise in premiums set to phase in next year on homeowners facing whopping increases. Those hikes, which are pegged to new flood maps, have not hit Long Island because maps here were updated in 2009, before the increases were approved.
Other reforms to the national flood insurance program, including higher premiums for frequently flooded properties and on 1.7 million second homes, would remain in place.
Clearing the first Senate hurdle put the bill on track for Senate action later in the week.
Its future in the House is uncertain at best. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) opposes the Senate bill, but was holding the door open to a more modest measure that would leave more of the 2012 overhaul in place.
The 2012 law made several changes to the program, which insures 5.6 million policyholders.
Owners of second homes, frequently flooded properties and businesses in flood areas would gradually lose their subsidies and pay 25 percent more a year until they reach an actuarially sound rate.
On Long Island, 32 percent of the roughly 83,000 flood insurance policies are subsidized, compared with 20 percent nationwide, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which runs the flood program.With AP
