Monmouth Times

Long Branch, NJ – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) on May 2 announced plans to introduce legislation to fix Risk Rating 2.0 and reform the entire National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) this month. In the announcement, he expressed his longstanding concerns with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Risk Rating 2.0’s impact on New Jersey and called on federal officials to increase transparency on data used to build the flawed risk model

“My constituents still know all too well how important a flood insurance program is. After Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Ida devastated New Jersey communities, insurance companies have outright refused to make good on their promises to policyholders and used the fine print to deny families who lost everything,” said Pallone. “For years, I’ve been warning that Risk Rating 2.0 could be used to unfairly target coastal communities while making flood insurance unaffordable for working families, and that’s exactly what I’m hearing from my constituents. FEMA’s Risk Rating 2.0 is lowering costs for some, but it’s causing thousands of households to drop coverage all together due to rate shocks.

“The National Flood Insurance Program must be both affordable and fair – otherwise it just doesn’t work. That’s why I will soon introduce my bipartisan bill to deliver the reforms we need to strengthen our flood insurance program. This bill will put a cap on Risk Rating 2.0 rate hikes, create new affordability measures, make sure premiums reflect flood mitigation efforts, and maximize the claims process so that homeowners in my district are protected from the devastating effects of future flooding. I want to thank my colleagues who have joined me in this effort and am especially grateful to Representative Bill Pascrell and Senator Robert Menendez, who have been strong and steadfast partners in this process,” Pallone concluded.

New Jersey has seen approximately 12,000 policyholders drop their flood insurance policies since FEMA implemented Risk Rating 2.0 premium hikes, and it is estimated that 80 percent of policyholders in the state will see rate increases. Since full implementation of Risk Rating 2.0 began in 2022, Pallone has heard from local officials and constituents that premiums are now unaffordable and that rates were not accurately accounting for elevation investments made by both homeowners and FEMA or community mitigation efforts made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Last Congress, Pallone and Pascrell sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging NFIP's Risk Rating 2.0 implementation to be postponed to ensure transparency in the process and fairness for New Jersey policyholders.

Original source can be found here.