Senate Bill sb2396

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    Florida Senate - 2001        (NP)                      SR 2396

    By Senator Jones





    40-1983A-01

  1                    Senate Resolution No. ____

  2         A resolution encouraging the Federal Emergency

  3         Management Agency to adopt a policy towards the

  4         Florida Keys that is consistent with Florida

  5         law and its own policy.

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  7         WHEREAS, under the Florida Statute of Limitations,

  8  section 95.11(3)(c), Florida Statutes, Judge Richard Payne

  9  ruled on October 6, 2000, that Monroe County could not enforce

10  removal of downstairs enclosures that were built over 4 years

11  prior to enforcement action, and

12         WHEREAS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency

13  (FEMA), in a letter dated July 29, 1991, threatened to suspend

14  Monroe County from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)

15  if the county established a 4-year limitation on code

16  violations, and

17         WHEREAS, FEMA, in a letter to Monroe County dated

18  December 12, 2000, from its Associate Director for Mitigation,

19  Michael J. Armstrong, stated that if Monroe County did not

20  appeal Judge Payne's ruling of October 6, 2000, FEMA would

21  consider this action as a defect in the county's floodplain

22  management program, and

23         WHEREAS, Monroe County was denied a rehearing on

24  January 19, 2001, by Judge Payne to reconsider the ruling to

25  remove all illegal downstairs enclosures, and

26         WHEREAS, FEMA records show that Monroe County has a

27  high participation and a low claim history in the NFIP, and

28         WHEREAS, 76,000 pre-firm structures, out of 4.3 million

29  pre-firm structures that have had two or more losses since

30  1978, represent 33 percent of all losses paid by FEMA, and

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    Florida Senate - 2001        (NP)                      SR 2396
    40-1983A-01




  1         WHEREAS, only 1.9 million pre-firm structures out of

  2  4.3 million pre-firm structures have their lowest floors above

  3  base flood level, and it is punitive to mandate that Monroe

  4  County remove more than 4,000 downstairs enclosures because

  5  they are below base flood level, and

  6         WHEREAS, 23 percent of NFIP claim dollars paid from

  7  1978 to 1996 went to areas not identified as special hazard

  8  flood areas, and

  9         WHEREAS, Texas and Louisiana account for 40 percent of

10  all repeated flood claims (1.1 billion), and

11         WHEREAS, with the exception of Key Biscayne, the

12  majority of repeated flood claims comes from the gulf coast on

13  the top half of the State of Florida, and

14         WHEREAS, the current FEMA policy towards the Florida

15  Keys is arbitrary, capricious, and inconsistent with its

16  national policy, and its enforcement of a special pilot

17  program does not align with FEMA's own stated goals, and

18         WHEREAS, the enforcement of FEMA's pilot program is

19  inconsistent with Florida law and would create enormous

20  economic hardships on the economy of the Florida Keys, and

21         WHEREAS, the removal of more than 4,000 downstairs

22  enclosures would work against the stated policy of the

23  Department of Community Affairs to provide affordable housing

24  for the people of Monroe County, and

25         WHEREAS, the Florida Senate recognizes that Monroe

26  County must follow the laws of the State of Florida and its

27  circuit judges, NOW, THEREFORE,

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29  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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    Florida Senate - 2001        (NP)                      SR 2396
    40-1983A-01




  1         That the Federal Emergency Management Agency is

  2  encouraged to adopt a policy toward the Florida Keys that is

  3  consistent with Florida law and its own national policy.

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