FEMA hit with lawsuit over flood insurance coverage pricing system

A Louisiana parish has sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over its new pricing system for flood insurance coverage premiums, generally known as Risk Rating 2.0.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal courtroom, claims that the company has denied public report requests made by the St. Charles Parish associated to how charges are being calculated underneath the brand new system.

An announcement issued Tuesday revealed that the request was made underneath the Freedom of Information Act final November 2022, because the parish sought data on the mannequin that the company used to find out fee hikes.  

Parish president Matthew Jewell stated they had been pressured to file the swimsuit after “exhausting all obtainable administrative cures and seeks to require FEMA to adjust to federal legislation.”

“The residents of St. Charles Parish are seeing large spikes in flood insurance coverage charges, and we should know why,” he stated additional. “We deserve transparency on the info getting used to find out these astronomical fee will increase.”

“We are reviewing and must proceed to overview the Risk Rating 2.0 given the issues which have been expressed,” Mayorkas stated in a congressional listening to final week, addressing feedback from the Homeland Security Committee.

The Department of Homeland Security oversees FEMA, which is chargeable for managing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

NOLA.com has reported that FEMA may even see additional authorized motion down the road, as Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is alleged to be getting ready a separate lawsuit after he had referred to as the company’s pricing formulation “arbitrary and capricious.”

What are your ideas on the controversial Risk Rating 2.0? Feel free to remark under.