North Shore Louisiana News

As Louisiana families continue to raise concerns about rising flood insurance premiums, On May 2, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and 49 of their colleagues sent a letter to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) demanding transparency on Risk Rating 2.0. 

“FEMA imposed the disastrous Risk Rating 2.0 before it was ready for prime time, and as a result, families across Louisiana and throughout the nation are dealing with the devastating consequences. In my district, some premiums have skyrocketed from hundreds up to thousands of dollars.

“From day one, I have fought FEMA’s ill-conceived Risk Rating 2.0 because their process was secretive, unfair, and quite frankly, jeopardizes the stability of the entire National Flood Insurance Program. It’s time for unelected FEMA bureaucrats to finally come clean and show homeowners the data and calculations behind Risk Rating 2.0 that have made flood insurance premiums so unaffordable for millions of families across America,” said Leader Scalise.  “Homeowners, particularly those who are financially vulnerable, need affordable flood insurance policies to protect against catastrophic financial loss when future storms befall. Additionally, a precipitous drop in policyholders could lead to program insolvency,” the letter reads.

 In addition to requesting all factors taken into account in the Risk Rating 2.0 calculations, the letter also calls for the following:

• All documents and communications regarding FEMA’s consultation with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to develop the definition of leveed areas, the probability of overtopping, and the probability of failure prior to overtopping that could inform the catastrophe modeling;
• All documents and communications regarding the consideration of unaccredited levees and levee quality data gaps in the National Levee Database;
• All documents and communications regarding calculations of state base rates;
• All documents and communications regarding how many U.S. households’ rates increased under the Risk Rating 2.0 program;
• All documents and communications regarding FEMA’s evaluation of the economic impacts of Risk Rating 2.0.

Read the letter here.

What Louisiana Leaders are saying:

“We’ve sounded the alarm in Southeast Louisiana on Risk Rating 2.0 because it is pricing people out of their homes and they can’t even explain how they’ve calculated these premiums. We’re fortunate to have a fighter like Leader Scalise in Congress to hold FEMA’s feet to the fire and get the answers we deserve,” said St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell.
 
“With new flood insurance rates in the thousands of dollars, Risk Rating 2.0 is significantly impacting our regional housing market. It’s even more alarming to see the lack of transparency coming from FEMA regarding Risk Rating 2.0 handling of vital mitigation efforts. Leader Scalise’s investigation into FEMA’s black box is welcome news for policyholders across our country,” said Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority–East President and former National Association of Homebuilders Chairman of the Board Randy Noel.
 
“We know there are holes in the formula FEMA is using to set Louisiana policyholders’ premiums and unfortunately, we’ve raised the questions and they’ve gone largely unanswered. Finally getting FEMA to show their numbers will be a vital first step in delivering real relief for our homeowners. Such a significant legislative step in a necessary direction,” said Executive Director of the North Lafourche Levee District Dwayne Bourgeois.
 
Prior Scalise Calls for Action on Risk Rating 2.0:
 
In October 2022, Leader Scalise called for transparency of FEMA’s Risk Rating 2.0 program following a roundtable discussion with local stakeholders. 
 
In April 2022, Leader Scalise with his colleague Rep. Troy Carter penned an op-ed in The Advocate slamming the disastrous consequences of implementing Risk Rating 2.0 and called the process secretive after the program went live on April 1, 2022. 
 
In April 2022 following the implementation of FEMA’s Risk Rating 2.0 program, Leader Scalise expressed his disappointment and called for FEMA to reverse course citing serious transparency concerns and failure to consider mitigation efforts. 
 
In December 2021, Leader Scalise sent a letter to FEMA blasting the agency for lack of transparency in the rollout of Risk Rating 2.0 and the agency’s refusal to meet with Members of Congress and local flood protection officials as stakeholders warned of drastically increased premiums. 
 
In October 2021, Leader Scalise urged FEMA to delay the rollout of Risk Rating 2.0 to prevent families from experiencing unjustified flood insurance rate hikes following a roundtable discussion with local leaders. 
 
In September 2021, Leader Scalise and Rep. Garret Graves sent a letter to FEMA requesting a delay in the implementation which was originally set to be implemented on October 1, 2021. 

Original source can be found here.