Posted on 06/17/2003 8:18:12 PM PDT by in_search_of
STARK INTRODUCES NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM FAIRNESS ACT Legislation would protect homeowners, improve coordination between FEMA and local communities
April 14, 2003
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, Rep. Pete Stark introduced H.R. 1861, the National Flood Insurance Program Fairness Act. Stark’s bill would make needed improvements to the National Flood Insurance Program by requiring that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) give proper notice to local communities and homeowners when their property is included in a special flood hazard area, as well as provide reimbursement to those homeowners whose homes were wrongly classified.
“Many local residents have homes that were recently classified as being within a special flood hazard area,” Stark said. “These homeowners were given little advance notice of their legal obligation to purchase costly flood insurance, which can be over $1,000 a year. On top of this new financial burden, many homeowners who’ve rarely if ever experienced flooding have had to bring in private surveyors to prove that FEMA wrongly classified their homes. They’ve found that even if FEMA corrects their mistake, these homeowners are still stuck paying the surveyor costs.”
“My legislation would ensure that citizens are given proper notice when their property is included in a flood hazard zone,” Stark continued. “It helps facilitate better coordination between FEMA and community officials in this regard. My bill also reimburses homeowners who successfully have their homes removed from special flood hazard status.”
Stark’s bill would require FEMA to notify each homeowner and the Chief Executive Officer of the affected community whenever there are changes to a flood hazard area. In doing so, FEMA would be required to provide a copy of the revised map, information identifying all the homes that are impacted, and a statement explaining the process for appeal. FEMA would also be required to reimburse a resident or property owner for reasonable costs incurred in connection with their property being removed from the special flood hazard area.
“Passage of this legislation is vital to making sure FEMA provides homeowners with sufficient and timely notice if they are required to purchase flood insurance.” Stark said. “It will restore fairness to the process by lifting a financial burden homeowners should not have to bear when they’ve successfully proven that their homes do not require flood hazard classification.”
Introduction Statement
FREMONT 39300 Civic Center Dr. Suite 220 Fremont, CA 94538 510-494-1388 WASHINGTON, DC 239 Cannon Building Washington, DC 20515 202-225-5065
(Excerpt) Read more at house.gov ...
How can you be against FEMA actually having real data supporting their claim that homeowners are now in a flood zone? They're in the process of going around the nation delcaring all kinds of property in a flood zone all of a sudden, which in turn forces property owners to pay hundreds more a month to FEMA THEMSELVES. Yes, they declare who pays, and they collect the money. All by themselves, with no accountability or redress whatsever. Nobody to even vote out of office.
I will have to cough up several hundred dollars a month more to FEMA, just because they said so. How would you like that?
YES. They wind up underwriting everything, and they get to decide who pays. It's the biggest damn screw-job rip-off I've ever seen in my damn life.
FEMA is coming in and deciding I have to pay for tornados in the Mid-West and multi-million dollar houses that suffer erosion in the hamptons. My premiums will wind up in the hands of FEMA, just because they said so and intentionally used junk science so they can raise money for themselves, and it seems we can't do a damn thing about it.
You really don't know anything about this, but decided to run your head anyway....DIDN'T YOU???????
NFIP is a swindle, boondoggle, Big Brother government gone f***ing haywire program if ever there was one. No one who hasn't been through the ringer of being wrongly classified as being in a flood plain would have any idea of what I'm talking about. If you've been through it, you know it well.
And when I say "flood plain", don't delude yourself into thinking of the Mighty Mississip' or a beach house on the ocean. When these a**holes hit me with it, I was in a TOWNHOUSE with a teeny little creek about 1/2 mile away.
The property was over 10 years old, but FEMA was updating the maps. Some bureaucrat moved one of the lines on the map, and it cost me thousands of dollars and two years of hell to get the mistake corrected.
What private flood insurance exists that isn't subject to the federal government's ruleswhims?
BINGO!!!! I knew you had a brain!
What do I do in the mean time. My friends and family are getting screwed right in the rear-end, in a big way.
This is an outrageous tyranical screwed abortion of a program. I can't say in words what this is. It's un-American.
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