Date: 2004-09-13
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I rise today to speak in favor of H.R. 3056. In 1992. Congress made changes to the Coastal Barrier Resources System that have effectively protected environmentally sensitive communities and have deterred residents from building or buying lands that are prone to natural disasters. such as flooding and erosion. Under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act. also known as COBRA. residents may build within the system but if they do. they will not qualify for Federal assistance. In order to qualify for Federal assistance. the most important being Federal flood insurance. residents must live in an excluded area. The maps used to depict the Coastal Barrier Resources System were created over 10 years ago using the technology that was available at that time. Basically they were paper maps with longitude and latitude markings and handdrawn boundaries and land masses. Today we have digital technology available to more accurately depict where Congress intended the COBRA boundaries to actually lie. Unfortunately. this new technology has found a number of incorrect determinations. Areas that were meant to be excluded from the system were inadvertently included in the act. Three such cases exist in my district in Cedar Key. Prior to purchasing their properties. all three families were told by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the areas were in the "excluded area." The families purchased their properties. paid the premiums for the flood insurance required by the mortgage lender. but then last year they were told by the Fish and Wildlife Service that an error had been made and that in fact they were within the Coastal Barrier Resource System. Thus. they do not qualify for Federal flood insurance. Can any of us imagine the anguish and heartache that they are feeling today? They paid premiums for flood insurance for years. only to be hit by backtoback hurricanes Charley and Frances. and possibly the impending Ivan. and then they are told that because of an incorrect determination they have no coverage. We still do not know how many billions of dollars these disasters are going to cost the residents of the State of Florida. The assistance residents may receive from FEMA will only cover a fraction of the cost of damages in my area of Cedar Key. Moreover. flood insurance is virtually unavailable in the private market and can cost six times that of a federally insured flood policy. What is even worse is one of these families was in the process of selling their home last year and upon receiving the new determination from Fish and Wildlife. their home depreciated actually on the real estate market by over 50 percent. My bill clarifies the boundaries of Unit P25 and the Otherwise Protected Area P25P of the Coastal Barrier Resources System where my constituents live. This bill uses digital technology to redraw the boundaries to better reflect the intent of Congress in 1992 and it excludes those families from the system. H.R. 3056 does not seek to add any areas to the excluded portion of the system. It merely clarifies the mistakes the outdated technology made in these instances. I believe it is imperative that our citizens receive the assistance that they are entitled to receive. It is imperative that Congress correct the flaws in this good law to ensure that more residents in the area are not adversely affected. I would certainly like to thank the gentleman from California . the chairman. and the gentleman from Maryland . the subcommittee chairman. for all their assistance with this bill. I urge the Members favorable support of the bill.