A federal district court judge in Mississippi appears to besetting the stage for a prompt decision on whether soaring federalflood insurance premium rate hikes should be stayed pendingcompletion of a study as to whether those hikes are affordable.

In a three-page decision, Judge Louis Guirola, Jr., chief judgeof the Federal District Court in Gulfport, Miss., late Mondayrejected the effort of a Mississippi county to intervene in alawsuit filed by the state insurance commissioner, Michael Chaney,in October.

Guirola said he believes the state insurance commissioner is“adequately” representing the needs of the state regarding theaffordability issue, and that it is not necessary for HarrisonCounty intervene in the lawsuit.

The court said that Harrison County does not claim “to representany interest in this legislation other than the same interest theMississippi Insurance Department purports to represent.

“Thus, the county has not shown that it has an interest in thislitigation that will be adversely affected if it does notintervene,” the judge said.

A number of Gulf Coast states, as well as South Carolina andMassachusetts, have filed briefs supporting Mississippi's Octoberlawsuit.

The rate hikes are mandated by a 2012 law that requires theFederal Emergency Management Agency to phase in actuarial rates forflood-insurance premiums for approximately 5.6 million customers ofthe National Flood Insurance Program over four years.

Chaney was not available for comment, but he said late last weekhe is hopeful that the court will move before the end of the yearto stay the rate hikes, scheduled to go into effect early nextyear, pending further proceedings.

Legal sources in Mississippi say they are hopeful that thedecision on the Hamilton County lawsuit will clear the way forcourt action on the Chaney lawsuit by the end of the year.

Congress is also trying to deal with the issue. The Senateleadership has agreed to consider early next year whether to takeup expedited-procedures legislation that would delay the rate hikesfor up to four years.