Rep. Rose Presses FEMA on Proposed Flood Insurance Program That Could Devastate Homeowners

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 -- Rep. Max Rose, D-New York, issued the following news release:

Congressman Max Rose announced at a press conference on Staten Island today that he is leading a bipartisan push to demand answers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on its new flood insurance proposal, Risk Rating 2.0, that could devastate Staten Island homeowners.

"Revamping and completely overhauling a critical program like flood insurance behind closed doors with no accountability is absolutely unacceptable," Rose said. "Because all FEMA has publicly done to date is release two pages of information and refused to respond to our requests for more information. So until FEMA is transparent and shows us that they're not going to leave us financially under water, I'm going to do whatever is in my power to ensure that Staten Island and South Brooklyn are protected from this bureaucratic hack job aimed at our community."

The Administration's new proposal is planned to go into effect in October 2020 and would use both public and private sector data to reassess flood risks and insurance premiums for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Under the current system, FEMA assesses flood risk according to whether or not a property falls into an identified flood plain, with all properties in that flood plain being assessed the same risk of flooding. Risk Rating 2.0 aims to assess properties' individual and unique risks, which can potentially increase premiums for families living in high-risk areas. Currently, annual premium increases are capped at 18% under the NFIP, though premiums can actually rise higher according to actual risk over several years.

"The communities we serve rely on the NFIP to provide fair and affordable insurance to protect their homes and businesses in the event of a natural disaster," wrote Rose and a bipartisan group of colleagues in a letter to Peter Gaynor, the Acting Administrator of FEMA. "While we welcome ideas to reform the NFIP to improve the financial stability of the program, we fear that our constituents could face an affordability crisis as a result of this new risk rating system. Therefore, it is imperative that FEMA moves thoughtfully, judiciously and with care to ensure that Risk Rating 2.0 does not result in financial upheaval for millions of Americans."

The bipartisan Members of Congress are demanding answers from FEMA on: what methodologies will be used to designate risks that determine insurance costs; what private sector data will be used; how will Risk Rating 2.0 address rate increases for properties that have been "grandfathered" into lower risk classes under current law; when will FEMA provide modeling and enrollment rates; how will policyholders be able to appeal their risk classification; what economic impact analysis will be conducted; and what public outreach will be done to inform policyholders of the new proposal.

"We need some kind of transparency, which is why we appreciate Congressman Rose for standing up and fighting for us," said Joseph McAllister, President of the South Beach Civic Association. "Homeowners here and people trying to purchase houses today are unable to or having serious trouble doing so due to issues with flood insurance, which is why we need transparency and answers from FEMA."

Rose continued, "This summer, we've seen the damage rain does when coupled with Staten Island's decrepit storm drains and wastewater system. Under Risk Rating, people won't only have to pay for the threat of natural disasters, but also due to our broken infrastructure and the ineffectiveness of all levels of government to invest in our infrastructure and fix our drainage and sewer systems."

Earlier this year, Rose pressed the head of the FEMA at a hearing on the new Risk Rating 2.0 proposal. Rose is also backing a bipartisan proposal that would protect homeowners from steep flood insurance rate hikes by capping annual increases at 9 percent--half of the current cap on premium hikes.

Rose was joined at today's press conference by Joseph and Roe McAllister of the South Beach Civic Association, Allison Galdorisi of the New Dorp Beach Civic Association, and Michele Belloli of the Midland Beach Civic Association.

Joining Rose on the bipartisan letter to FEMA is fellow U.S. Representatives Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Bill Pasrell, Jr. (D-N.J.), and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Jeff Van Drew (D-N.J.), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.).

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- Following recent street flooding, Congressman leads bipartisan demand for answers from FEMA on new flood insurance proposal that's being developed behind closed doors