A Senate appropriations panel passed a bill Thursday that would create a Florida-based flood insurance marketplace. The bill was prompted by the federal Biggert-Waters Act of 2012, which removed National Flood Insurance Program subsidies and sent premiums skyrocketing.
Bill sponsor Jeff Brandes says some homeowners won't be able pay their mortgages as a result. The Saint Petersburg Republican says some policyholders in his district are being charged forty-thousand dollars for flood insurance.
"They are leaving their homes today, and we know of instances where their policies are being written by private companies today that are dramatically less than $40,000."
The bill would allow policyholders the choice of covering the outstanding balance of their mortgages or the replacement cost of their properties.
Florida has about 40% of all the policies in the National Flood Insurance Program.
Major recent losses from Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy have caused the program to run a deficit of twenty-four billion dollars.
According to the state Office of Insurance Regulation, Florida has received just one dollar in claims for every four dollars homeowners have paid in to the national plan since its inception.