“Rising flood insurance premiums affect all homeowners in the City of Long Beach,” said City Councilman Anthony Eramo, whose West End home was destroyed by Sandy. “On behalf of the City Council, I would like to applaud Senator Schumer for all that he has done and continues to do in advocating on behalf of Long Beach residents. Flood insurance is expensive enough as it is, and we simply cannot afford these exorbitant rate increases, especially after all we’ve been through.”

The bill passed the House of Representatives on March 10 with a bipartisan majority of 306-91, after the Senate passed its own version of the flood insurance relief bill in late January. Schumer said that the Senate legislation was preferable to the House bill because it delays all flood insurance premium increases until the affordability study is completed, but urged his colleagues to pass the House version of the bill since it addressed some key affordability issues and incorporates some key items added by Democrats in the Senate and House.

Schumer said that he and his Democratic colleagues in both the Senate and House also worked to add a series of important provisions to the House bill. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.

The bill also lowers FEMA’s annual flood insurance increase authority from 20 percent, under Biggert-Waters, to 15 percent. Additionally, most individual rate increases cannot exceed 18 percent. Under FEMA’s annual increase authority, the average increase is capped at 15 percent. But without the individual cap, policyholders might still have seen rate increases above 15 percent.

“New Yorkers are still recovering from the destructive force of Superstorm Sandy and back-to-back years of extreme weather and flooding,” Schumer said, “and this bill prevents for many the injustice that these homeowners were going to face — increased flood insurance premiums that can break the bank.”