Senate Concurrent Resolution 582

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO URGE THE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO MITIGATE THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF THE BIGGERT-WATERS FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM ACT OF 2012 AND TO SEEK A DELAY TO ALL FLOOD INSURANCE RATE INCREASES UNTIL GULF COAST COMMUNITIES ARE REMAPPED.

WHEREAS, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created by the United States Congress in 1968 with the passage of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-448) to enable property owners in participating communities to purchase insurance protection from the government against losses from flooding; and

WHEREAS, by April 2010, the NFIP insured over 5 million homes in the United States, the majority of which were along the Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific and Great Lakes shore lines of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the NFIP, historically, has provided insurance which, in an effort to create economic benefit, encouraged and incentivized coastal communities to develop their shorelines, including the concentration of economic production, population and infrastructure along the coast; and

WHEREAS, shoreline communities around the country, and certainly in the State of Mississippi, have become a stronghold for economic vitality by providing not only major economic engines (including transportation and access to trade corridors), but also for activities that are major contributors to our area’s historic economic success and strength: tourism, recreation, and cultural activities; and

WHEREAS, recently, the United States Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Biggert-Waters) which significantly overhauled the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP); and

WHEREAS, one of the potentially harmful impacts of Biggert-Waters is the aggressive timeline found in the bill to increase flood insurance premium rates from subsidized rates to market rates on certain properties, a change that creates an affordability and participation challenge for policyholders in coastal and river communities across the country; and

WHEREAS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in its State of the Coast report, indicated that in 2011, shoreline communities contributed $6.6 Trillion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (just under 1/2 of the entire GDP of the U.S.) and noted that 51,000,000 jobs exist in shoreline communities paying $2.8 Trillion in wages in 2011; and

WHEREAS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in its State of the Coast report, further stated that the nonmarket economic value of coastal resources are estimated to be over $100 Billion per year; and

WHEREAS, the $23 Billion plus/minus NFIP deficit accumulated over the past decade sought to be cured by the dramatic flood insurance premium rate increases of Biggert—Waters pales in comparison to the yearly economic contribution generated by our nation's shoreline communities, and that reasonable study of impacts to both market and nonmarket economic benefits to the country should have been taken into account and considered in Biggert-Waters; and

WHEREAS, while ensuring the long term solvency and long-term sustainability of the NFIP are valid goals of the U.S. Congress, those goals must take into account the negative side effects associated with Biggert-Waters, including, but not limited to, the increased difficulties to conduct business, trade, and live in these shoreline communities throughout the country; and

WHEREAS, raising rates as required by Biggert-Waters might diminish the GDP and long-term viability of shoreline communities which currently contribute almost half of the country's entire GDP; and, as such, might also have continuing negative Federal Revenue effects yearly in amounts much greater than the deficit sought to be closed by Biggert-Waters; and

WHEREAS, communities that have recently had FEMA flood map changes will pay higher rates due to Biggert-Waters than communities in other areas of the country that, though built at similar flood elevations, have not had recent flood map studies; and, as a result of incomplete flood map studies and changes, those recently revised communities will adversely bear a larger burden of the NFIP program than communities without recent changes and thus competitive trade disadvantages are likely to materialize; and

WHEREAS, Biggert-Waters requires FEMA, in coordination with a "Technical Mapping Advisory Council," to establish an ongoing flood-mapping program and authorizes expenditures for additional map studies though no appropriations have been made for such studies, which studies are critical to the potential goals of Biggert-Waters as it is currently enacted; and

WHEREAS, the significant rate increases resulting from Biggert-Waters will negatively impact over one million policyholders nationwide, including 10,000 policyholders in Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, the House of Representatives has recently passed the Cassidy-GrimmPalazzo-Richmond Amendment to the FY2014 Homeland Security Appropriations Act which ensured that no funds within the said Appropriations Act would be used to implement Section 207 of Biggert-Waters (the section that ended "grandfathered" NFIP rates for existing policyholders who, through no fault of their own, find themselves below the "Base Flood Elevation" requirements of the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) issued after their initial compliance with FEMA issued FIRMs); and

WHEREAS, the Cassidy-Grimm-Palazzo-Richmond Amendment was not intended as a comprehensive fix to the valid solvency and sustainability concerns related to the NFIP, but it provides for additional time to allow FEMA and the Congress to fully understand the impacts of Section 207 of Biggert-Waters and to determine a more feasible manner to balance consumer affordability with flood insurance accessibility; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That:

(1) The Mississippi Legislature extends thanks to our Mississippi Congressional delegation for their tireless work to date to mitigate the damage to our economy and to help the Gulfport citizens that are directly impacted by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012.

(2) The Mississippi Legislature hereby urges and memorializes the Mississippi Congressional Delegation to further pursue actively any and all means available to mitigate, to the greatest extent possible, the negative impacts of Section 207 of Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 in order to find and preserve a balance between affordable flood insurance coverage and a sustainable and solvent NFIP, while ensuring that the economic benefits enjoyed by the entire country derived from shoreline communities such as Gulfport, are considered and not diminished.

(3) The Mississippi Legislature hereby urges and memorializes the Mississippi Congressional Delegation to seek a delay to all rate increases related to Biggert-Waters until such time that all NFIP communities are re-mapped to ensure that all communities are assessed from a "level playing field" so that certain communities with recent flood map changes do not bear a larger burden and do not face competitive trade disadvantages with those communities without such recent flood map studies and changes.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution shall be transmitted to each member of the Mississippi Congressional Delegation, as follows: U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, Representative Alan Nunnelee (First Congressional District), Representative Bennie Thompson (Second Congressional District), Representative Gregg Harper (Third Congressional District) and Representative Steven Palazzo (Fourth Congressional District), and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.