From Florida Home Builders Association
As Congress considers a building industry-supported bill to delay drastic rate increases for federal flood insurance, the Florida Legislature is considering taking matters into its own hands by enticing private companies into a flood insurance market.
The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee has unanimously backed a bill (SB 542) that would encourage more private insurers to offer an alternative to the National Flood Insurance Program by giving the companies more freedom to set rates and shape coverage plans.
“Ultimately this bill puts consumers in control,” said Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg), the bill’s sponsor.
Brandes filed the legislation in response to escalating premiums in the federal program, which provides coverage for about 2 million Floridians. Some 269,000 of those policies that receive subsidized rates could face substantial increases under a new federal law aimed at shoring up the flood program.
Efforts to block the rate hikes have so far been stymied in Congress, but glimmers of hope emerged in Washington last month as Senate Democrats are pushing for a vote on a bill as early as the end of January that would delay the rate hikes for many homeowners for up to four years.