WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, joined by Congressmen Byron Donalds and Greg Steube, sent a letter today to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell urging her to reverse the agency’s recent decision to eliminate discounts for some National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy holders in Lee County, Florida. Previously, FEMA offered NFIP policyholders in Lee County a community premium discount of 25 percent, which will be eliminated for some policyholders if FEMA moves forward with its recent decision.

Senator Scott has been fighting for years to reform the broken NFIP and lower costs for Florida families. Senator Scott recently introduced the Flood Insurance Affordability Act, which would require FEMA to offer Floridians an option to pay their flood insurance premiums monthly, rather than in a larger lump sum once a year. In August 2023, Senator Scott wrote a letter to David Maurstad, Senior Executive of the NFIP, demanding transparency and accountability as FEMA’s Risk Rating 2.0 has unfairly increased flood insurance rates for millions of Floridians, making the coverage nearly unaffordable for working families who need it. Earlier this Congress, Senator Scott also reintroduced three bills, the Removing Barriers to Private Flood Insurance Act, the Flood Insurance Consumer Choice Act, and the Flood Insurance Transparency Act to reform the NFIP which would help lower the cost of flood insurance, build a more robust private market, and ensure the property insurance market better serves Florida families. Senator Scott’s NFIP package has been endorsed by the Federal Association for Insurance Reform (FAIR).

Text of the letter may be found HERE and below.

April 3, 2024

Dear Administrator Criswell:

We write regarding the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) recent decision to retrograde Lee County, Florida’s National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) community premium discount pursuant to the Community Rating System (CRS), effective October 1, 2024. The retrograde of the NFIP premium discount is yet another unforeseen challenge for Lee County residents, who continue their fight to recover from Hurricane Ian.

In the wake of disaster recovery and skyrocketing inflation, Lee County residents now face even higher living costs as a result of this decision. We urge you to immediately conduct a thorough review of this decision, honor the original discounts and meet with local leaders to remedy any issues and keep NFIP discounts in place.

Since Hurricane Ian made landfall in Lee County and caused widespread devastation in Southwest Florida, we have fought to deliver relief to Florida families and businesses and ensure a rapid recovery from this deadly storm. While we appreciated FEMA’s quick response in the immediate aftermath of the storm, we are discouraged by recent actions from the agency.

FEMA’s recent decision to lower discounts and raise premiums for some NFIP policyholders in Lee County is liable to create yet another unacceptable rise in costs for Southwest Florida families and businesses still recovering from Hurricane Ian that is catastrophic for their financial stability. It is critical to the livelihoods of Florida families and businesses that FEMA does everything needed to work with local leaders to ensure further cost increases do not take effect.

We look forward to working with FEMA to maintain NFIP discounts in Lee County as we continue to fight against higher costs for Florida families.

Sincerely,

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