Marshfield meeting to look at latest developments in flood insurance

MARSHFIELD -- The nonprofit Massachusetts Coastal Coalition will hold a meeting next week to give residents an opportunity to learn about different flood insurance options and how legislation and flood mapping with impact them and the National Flood Insurance Program.

The meeting will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at Stellwagen Brewery, 100 Enterprise Drive, Marshfield. Joy Duperault, the state's coordinator for the National Flood Insurance Program, will serve as guest speaker.

Joe Rossi, chair and executive director of the Massachusetts Coastal Coalition, said residents can get an update on flood insurance legislation and changes to the National Flood Insurance Program, which has been in limbo since it first expired in October 2017.

More than a dozen short-term extensions have kept it alive since then, and President Donald Trump signed another extension until Nov. 21. Lapses in January and March were the first lapses in the program since 2010.

Rossi said there said there has been little legislative progress since the last extension. The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate each have theirs own bills that are in some ways conflicting. Experts think Congress will likely push for a longer extension and wait until after the 2020 election to get serious about flood insurance reform.

"Congress is focused on other things, and there are no huge rate relief issues currently pressing Congress to take immediate action," Rossi said. "A lot of focus is shifting from what to do to make flood insurance more affordable to disclosure of information."

Currently, there is no national requirement for sellers to tell buyers if a home has flooded repeatedly, and flood claim history is not public. Some states, such as Texas, have laws that force sellers to disclose far more information about flood risk and history.

Massachusetts does not have a mandatory disclosure law, Rossi said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, announced last spring that it is revamping its flood-risk rating system to create insurance rates that more accurately reflect a property's unique risk of flooding. The program, called "Risk Rating 2.0," would go into effect in October 2020.

Rossi said FEMA would use data from a variety of sources to develop a comprehensive understanding of flood risk that applies to individual buildings, rather than areas as a whole. Rossi said it will also be easier for property owners to project out to see how much their insurance will cost in five or 10 years, and then plan accordingly.

Rossi said experts at next week's meeting will also discuss what is happening in the state is terms of remapping. He said federal funding for creating the flood insurance rate maps has been slashed, so some mapping has been delayed. Marshfield, for example, has not received its new maps following a map revision process.

"As frustrating as it has been, the technology is getting better and more buildings are coming out (of the flood zone) than going in," he said.

Rossi said members will talk about the private flood insurance market and give examples of how private policies have benefited some property owners.

"I think it will be beneficial for people to come and find out the pros and cons and what's available to them," Rossi said.

The coalition will also vote in its officers at the meeting and discuss goals for 2020.

For more information, visit https://knowflood.org/.

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