Foreign Spill Protection Act of 2016
Floor Speech
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Mr. MURPHY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida and I thank the gentleman from Oregon for their tireless efforts to protect our environment. As the gentleman from Florida and I know firsthand, so much of our economy is based on our environment. Making sure that we have clean water and clean air is exactly what we need to be focused on.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill, ensuring the party responsible for such oil spills is held liable. Hopefully, we get bipartisan support going forward. I thank the two gentlemen for their work putting this forward.
I would also like to rise today in support of H.R. 2901, the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act. I was proud to put this bipartisan legislation forward with my good friend, another gentleman from Florida (Mr. Ross) to clarify that private flood insurance may be an available option for homeowners to satisfy mandatory coverage requirements under the National Flood Insurance Program. For Florida homeowners, this is a win-win, giving them more options for flood insurance coverage and using new competition to drive down prices and expand coverage options for consumers.
The National Flood Insurance Program is an important tool that empowers and protects homeowners all across America. The Biggert-Waters Act of 2012 took an important step in opening up the market and allowing private flood insurance policies to satisfy mandatory coverage requirements under the program.
However, as we have learned, sometimes even the best laid plans can have unintended consequences. With a lack of clarity as to which private flood insurance policies are allowed in the program, the market has not been able to expand, and consumers have been left with just one choice to insure their properties from flood risk: the National Flood Insurance Program.
I recently heard from one of my constituents in Martin County, Florida, about how the premium for just 1 year of flood insurance coverage through the NFIP ended up being five times the price they expected it to be. To make matters worse, the maximum coverage was only half of what they paid for the home itself; yet they were required to purchase the higher priced plan that did not provide the coverage they needed because there were no other options.
This highlights the urgent need to allow competition in the flood insurance marketplace to meet homeowners' needs and drive down costs. But to do that, we must allow the States to license and regulate flood insurance policies, exactly like homeowners insurance, car insurance, or health insurance.
Yet, almost inexplicably, Florida's private flood insurance market remains restrained because homeowners are not given the choice to look to private market policies for more flood insurance options. The bank will not accept other policies because their regulators haven't approved them.
This bill will solve this problem by allowing State insurance commissioners, who have long been considered by Congress as the most appropriate regulators of insurance, to certify private insurance plans to provide equivalent or better protections for flood insurance other than the NFIP plan. Everyone I talk to agrees that Florida's insurance commissioner is certainly better equipped to regulate flood insurance in our State than the Federal banking regulators.
By breaking this down, we break down a major barrier to marketplace expansion. This legislation will foster more competition, greatly benefiting homeowners across Florida and the Nation.
I thank the gentleman from Texas, Chairman Hensarling, for his leadership on this issue. I also extend my deep gratitude to the gentlewoman from California, Ranking Member Waters, for her relentless advocacy for consumers and for working with us to improve this legislation and produce a solid, bipartisan outcome.
I appreciate all of my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee for moving this commonsense measure forward with unanimous, bipartisan support.
I am hopeful that today it will be passed by the full House with similar support and will be swiftly considered in the Senate.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2901, the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act.
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