Florida Senate - 2014                                    SM 1058
       
       
        
       By Senator Brandes
       
       
       
       
       
       22-01207B-14                                          20141058__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the United States Congress and the
    3         President of the United States, urging Congress to
    4         delay implementation of the Biggert-Waters Flood
    5         Insurance Reform Act of 2012 until specified
    6         conditions are met and to eliminate any requirement to
    7         immediately increase a property owner’s insurance
    8         procured through the National Flood Insurance Program
    9         to a full-risk rate, and, if the Congress fails to
   10         act, urging the President to delay any resulting rate
   11         increases.
   12  
   13         WHEREAS, the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 was
   14  created after record flooding led the private sector to abandon
   15  the flood insurance market and stop writing flood policies, and
   16         WHEREAS, on July 6, 2012, President Barack Obama signed
   17  into law the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, H.R.
   18  4348, also known as the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform
   19  Act, which reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program
   20  through 2017, and
   21         WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Florida believes
   22  that because of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act,
   23  Florida homeowners will experience overwhelming rate increases
   24  for insurance, and those increases will lessen real estate sales
   25  in the state, deteriorate home values, and make it almost
   26  impossible for pending home sales to be completed, further
   27  eroding Florida’s economy, NOW, THEREFORE,
   28  
   29  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   30  
   31         That the Legislature of the State of Florida respectfully
   32  urges:
   33         (1) The United States Congress to delay implementation of
   34  the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act until the Federal
   35  Emergency Management Agency completes the required economic
   36  impact study in order to provide a substantive analysis of the
   37  proposed rate increases and their impact, and to eliminate any
   38  requirement to immediately increase a property owner’s insurance
   39  procured through the National Flood Insurance Program to a full
   40  risk rate; and
   41         (2) If the United States Congress fails to act to delay the
   42  implementation of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act,
   43  the President of the United States to use his executive
   44  authority to administratively delay rate increases to the
   45  National Flood Insurance Program resulting from the
   46  implementation of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Act.
   47         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   48  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   49  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   50  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   51  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.