EDITORIAL: How to fix a broken flood insurance program

Dec. 06--Congress is again poised to delay action on much-needed reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program.

It's the sole source of flood insurance for more than 5 million homes across the U.S. As of Sept. 30, it covered about 16,100 homes in Terrebonne and 12,500 in Lafourche with a combined value of roughly $7 billion.

For years, Congress has failed to put the program on solid financial footing. It tried with the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012, a bungled piece of legislation that caused flood insurance prices to skyrocket in parts of Louisiana and across the country until lawmakers passed a patchwork of mostly temporary fixes two years later.

The program has racked up about $25 billion in debt paying massive storm claims over the years, and more is expected as costs continue to roll in from this year's devastating hurricanes. The U.S. taxpayers are on the hook for that, which is one of the reasons reform is needed.

The insurance program will expire Friday unless Congress takes action, and lawmakers say they will likely extend it for two weeks, possibly longer, to finalize some of the reforms they have debated for months.

While action is long overdue, the issue is so important to home and business owners and communities' economies that delay would be better than hasty, half-baked action.

Critics have complained that federal taxpayers shouldn't have to subsidize insurance for people who live in flood-prone areas like Terrebonne and Lafourche. They have pushed to raise prices to coincide with the actual risk.

That sounds great in concept, but put into practice, it threatens to render worthless the homes and businesses of millions of people, including thousands locally, who have played by the rules for years.

Yes, Congress can and should consider options to dissuade people from building in staying in harm's way, but those options should not include robbing owners of their homes.

Any solution needs to keep flood insurance affordable. Doing this right requires lawmakers to work through a complicated set of issues in a way that is fair to homeowners and taxpayers. Among actions, a good proposal would:

* Give FEMA, the agency that administers the program, sufficient money to produce accurate elevation maps that give property owners an accurate assessment of their flood risk.

* Provide money to help people whose homes have flooded repeatedly move up or out of harm's way.

* Offer incentives and money to reduce flood risk, including building levees and restoring marshes that buffer inland communities from storms.

* If private companies are allowed to sell flood insurance, ensure they don't cherry-pick the least-risky policies, leaving the most vulnerable without affordable options.

Congress needs to get it right this time. Millions of people are depending on it.

-- Editorials represent the opinion of this newspaper and not a single individual.

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