Plumas Lake Forum

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act of 2010, which includes two provisions that Congresswoman Doris Matsui had sought that are important to flood zone designations and flood insurance cost in the Sacramento region.

These provisions, along with 200-year levee work ongoing in the Natomas basin, are expected to cut insurance rates and improve public safety.

Matsui has worked to ensure Sacramento residents can afford to purchase the flood insurance they need to protect their homes and businesses.

“As many of my colleagues can attest, providing the security and safety of the Sacramento region is my number one priority in Congress,” Matsui said on the House floor Thursday while managing debate on H.R. 5114. “And even as we near passage of provisions I have been working tirelessly on for the last year, I will continue to advocate for the people of Sacramento — the most at-risk river city in the country.”

By 2011, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA) and the state of California will have spent about $350 million repairing Natomas levees. At the same time, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood zone certification process does not always take local and state funding into account. A provision in the flood insurance legislation fixes this problem.

Matsui also testified last spring in support of a provision that phases in higher insurance rates over five years and makes the provision retroactive to remapped areas. Under the legislation, after an area is remapped rates would increase 20 percent a year for five years instead of jumping to $1,300 overnight. The provision is retroactive to September 2008.

The Flood Insurance act also reauthorizes FEMA to enter into, and renew, insurance policies through fiscal 2015. It also allows low-income home owners to pay flood insurance premiums in installments, as opposed to one lump sum, and raises maximum coverage limits for flood insurance policies. The new limit for residences is $335,000, up from $250,000.

In Matsui’s district, flood maps put Natomas into a flood zone that triggered a federal requirement for home owners to carry flood insurance.

“SAFCA is working with the Corps of Engineers and the California Department of Water Resources to implement an aggressive and ambitious levee improvement plan to achieve a 200-year level of flood protection,” Matsui said, in the release. “In keeping with this objective, H.R. 5114 would make certain that responsible home owners across the country continue paying into the (National Flood Insurance Program) without adding risk to the floodplain.”

Read more: Flood insurance reform bill advances in House - Sacramento Business Journal