Louisiana's two senators are proposing an indefinite delay toflood insurance premium hikes mandated by legislation enacted in2012.

The amendment to the Water Resources Development Act of 2013 wasannounced Tuesday by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and David Vitter,R-La.

It is amongst a number of efforts to stall or roll back theincreases by members of Congress from Gulf states as well as NewJersey.

Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and politicalaffairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companiesvoiced deep concern over the amendment, as did R.J. Lehmann, asenior fellow at the R Street Institute, a conservative think tankbased in Washington.

“The reforms passed under the Biggert-Waters Act were designedto strengthen the NFIP financially and reduce the potential needfor a taxpayer funded bailout,” Grande said.

“Any move to delay those reforms only serves to weaken theprogram, and we urge Congress not to take any steps that couldweaken the financial stability of the NFIP,” he added.

“The NFIP has been offering flood insurance at below-risk ratesfor 45 years, in the process racking up some $30 billion in debt tothe federal Treasury,” Lehmann said. “Congress finally acted lastyear to end the most egregious subsidies, but still preserved themfor most primary residences. These reforms are modest, fair andwere subjected to years of debate before they were signed into law.There is no call to slow or reverse that process now.”

The amendment would stop premium-rate increases on second homesunder the National Flood Insurance Program coverage until theFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducts anaffordability study and there is adequate time to act on theresults.

Mandates that actuarially sound rates for second homes andchronic-flood properties be phased in over four years was the pricedemanded for long-term reauthorization by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.,last year.

The program lapsed effective Oct. 1, 2008, and was reauthorizedon a short-term basis approximately 12 times from 2008 until theprogram was reauthorized effective in July 2012. There was a 53-dayperiod during that time when the program was not allowed to add newsubscribers because of a gap in temporary reauthorizations byCongress.

However, various bills have been proposed this year to delay therate increases.

In March, a Mississippi congressman introduced a bill in theHouse that would slow rate increases over the next 10 years byphasing out insurance subsidies over a longer period of time.

And last week, a Jackson County, Miss., official said thathigher flood-insurance rates will be a “financial disaster” forsome who live in special flood-hazard areas.

“I think it's going to be huge,” said Michele Coats, JacksonCounty's planning director. “You're going to see a lot of peoplewho can't afford this. I don't think anybody here can afford therates (the National Flood Insurance Program is) talking about.

“We got the impression after Katrina it wasn't going to changethat much, the rates were going to go up a little. This iscatastrophic.”

The first wave of premium increases this year will hit only asmall percentage of policyholders. Increases for a broaderpopulation will start in 2014, she said.

And the New Jersey state Senate 10 days ago passed a resolutiondemanding that Congress subsidize flood insurance for beachfrontproperties.

“I have been warning about these increases for some time andcalling on FEMA to address these rate increases for nearly a year,”Landrieu said in announcing she will seek to add the amendment tothe water resources bill.

“We don't have time to wait for FEMA – we need to stop theserate increases now,” she said.