As the fight wages in Washington over imminent federal flood insurance rate hikes, Gov. Bobby Jindal has thrown his support behind efforts by Louisiana's congressional delegation to slow or delay the changes. "We support the efforts by (U.S.) Senators (Mary) Landrieu and (David) Vitter, as well as members of the House delegation, to fix this at the federal level...
As the fight wages in Washington over imminent federal flood insurance rate hikes, Gov. Bobby Jindal has thrown his support behind efforts by Louisiana's congressional delegation to slow or delay the changes.
"We support the efforts by (U.S.) Senators (Mary) Landrieu and (David) Vitter, as well as members of the House delegation, to fix this at the federal level where the problem started," Kyle Plotkin, Jindal's spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday.
Louisiana's congressional delegation wants their peers to approve a one-year delay in the premium increases for policyholders covered under the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP.
The rate hikes would kick in for some Louisianians as soon as Oct. 1 and could result in up to a 25 percent premium increase for residents who previously received subsidized insurance plans.
Congress approved the rate hikes last year with the passage of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act. The hikes are meant to make the NFIP, first passed in 1968, financially solvent after it fell into massive debt after Hurricane Katrina.
As its currently written, the law will mandate substantial increases in premiums for certain policyholders in high-risk areas who, until now, have received subsidized rates. This means someone living four feet below FEMA's base-flood elevation would pay premiums of around $9,500 a year.
Wednesday's statement was the first time the governor has weighed in on the issue.
The response came the same day that state Treasurer John Kennedy called for a state-run program -- akin to Louisiana Citizens Insurance, the property insurer of last resort -- and two days after Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon tore into the changes passed by Congress last year.
Donelon addressed the complaint of some in Congress that since payouts after Katrina account for the majority of the billions in debt currently facing the NFIP, citizens in Louisiana should see their rates increase to pay for that debt.
"(Louisiana's) working coast is important to the entire country and, as such, if this is a program that we benefit from more than others, there are other programs out there that benefit other states much more so than the state of Louisiana," Donelon said.
"And I think we're deserving of that trade-off, that consideration in that very important part of our economy."
After pressure from U.S. Reps. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, and others in the newly-formed Congressional Home Protection Caucus, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee announced this week it would hold a hearing in the next month to address the question of whether the rate increases will be affordable for policyholders.
Lauren McGaughy is a state politics reporter based in Baton Rouge. She can be reached at lmcgaughy@nola.com or on Twitter at @lmcgaughy.
