Trying again for flood insurance relief

Legislation that could have brought homeowners five years of relief on flood insurance premiums never made it to a vote in the U.S. Senate last year, leaving the proposal back at square one.

The legislation passed by the House of Representatives, the Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act of 2010, would have put a five-year hold on the implementation of the new maps that went into effect in September 2009. That would have eliminated the requirement that residents with mortgages buy flood insurance.

However, the congressional session ended without any action on the bill in the Senate, and it now must be re-introduced in both chambers. Jessica Montgomery, a spokeswoman for Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), said that will be a goal in the coming months. “It’s not an issue we’re going to let slide,” Montgomery said. “It’s one of the top priorities that we have now.”

She said she did not know whether the same bill would be introduced in the House in this new session of Congress, or if the legislation would be modified. That decision will be made, she explained, when congressional committees begin meeting.

Montgomery added that McCarthy plans to work with Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has taken up the issue as well. Schumer visited Valley Stream last year to call on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to review the flood maps, saying he believes they are seriously flawed.

She said there was some disappointment that the law did not get much consideration in the Senate before the session ended. “It just didn’t work out that way,” she said.

Nick Kelly, a spokesman for Schumer, said the bill was introduced last session but was blocked by Republicans. Schumer will sponsor the legislation again this session, without any variations, Kelly said. “We plan to re-introduce the bill in the next weeks,” he said. “The content of the bill is the same.”

Valley Stream resident Carol Crupi, who has been leading Gibson residents in the fight against the flood maps, also expressed her disappointment that the legislation did not go through. Most homeowners in the community, which is south of Sunrise Highway, were placed in the high-risk flood zone.