Florida Commissioner McCarty Gives FEMA Deadline for NFIP Rate Data
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has followed through on his promise to State Senator Jeff Brandes to investigate the National Flood Insurance Program’s rating practices of Floridians.
In an Oct. 2 letter to Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), McCarty requested FEMA “work collaboratively with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation by providing access to ratemaking data and supplemental information.” McCarty says access to such data will facilitate the review of how NFIP determines its rates.
The letter to FEMA includes a supplemental document that outlines the basic rate-making data FLOIR is requesting by December 15, 2015.
“As the nation’s leading provider of flood insurance in the United States, we believe that the NFIP’s data set is the most complete and robust data set available. We would therefore very much appreciate if the NFIP would provide the Office with the information requested in the attached document,” McCarty wrote.
The information requested will also enable FLOIR to address the concerns raised by Senator Brandes on behalf of his constituents in a letter sent to the Commissioner on August 12, FLOIR said.
Brandes said at the time that rising flood insurance rates in the state of Florida was creating a “growing flood insurance crisis.”
Brandes said although there are jurisdictional limitations on FLOIR in regulating NFIP rates, “the input of our state regulator on this matter is critically important to the success of federal reform initiatives.”
McCarty responded in a letter to Brandes on Aug. 14 that NFIP’s rates for Florida may be “unfairly discriminatory” and that his office would ask for the actuarial study, including data and models used to determine rates in the state, from FEMA.
“The Office can request pertinent data and perform a review of NFIP rates based on Florida law if we can acquire the necessary data from NFIP,” McCarty responded.
Fellow Florida lawmaker, Representative Bill Hager, said the information McCarty obtains could help state lawmakers develop legislation that encourages competition from the private flood insurance market.
“Our goal is pretty simple in all of this. We want a robust market. We want to unleash competition. We want relief for homeowners,” said Hager.
Listen to the entire interview with Representative Bill Hager