Flood insurance mandate defeated in Illinois

Illinois Insurance industry

Illinois-Insurance

Congressional delegation members in the state bring the measure to a halt.

Illinois congressional delegation members have announced that a flood insurance mandate for homeowners residing behind what they feel are healthy barriers against flooding, has been defeated.

The proposal had initially been an element of the reauthorization bill for the National Flood Insurance Program.

However, according to federal lawmakers, the mandate for the coverage was buried within the Illinois bill without much warning. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin has announced that this provision has now been successfully removed by the state’s lawmakers. Those legislators have been working hard over the last few years to protect the homeowners in the suburbs, whose properties are sheltered by the Mississippi River levees.

The goal of these lawmakers was to hold off the efforts that have been made to force homeowners and home buyers with federally backed mortgages to purchase flood insurance, even when their properties are located in areas where the levees, dams, and other control structures have shown to withstand floodwaters in previous years.

Senator Durbin stated that “Working with a bipartisan coalition that included Senator Kirk and Congressman Shimkus, Congressman Costello and I were able to remove this proposal from the Transportation Conference Committee. We will continue to do everything we can to protect the investment that Metro East families and businesses have made to strengthen their levees and protect against floods.”

According to Senator Kirk’s office, by eliminating this mandate, it means that families living in the affected areas won’t be required to pay for their protection two times over, once for the levees and control structures that have already shown to be effective, and another time for obligatory flood insurance. The office added that they are satisfied with the success of this bipartisan effort.

Congressman Costello also expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the mandate’s defeat.

He said that if the measure had become a law, it would have held back other important efforts, such as the improvement of local levees. Costello feels that focusing on keeping the communities safe is a greater priority than flood insurance to pay for damage that has been allowed to happen by failing to focus on protection.

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