JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi’s lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over high flood insurance rates has been dropped. The rate increases were brought on by the Biggert Waters Act of 2012; however, those increases have been delayed thanks a new federal law enacted last month until an affordability can be study can be done for flood prone areas.
“There are still some issues out there that we’ll have to look at, but it will be six months to a year before we know the impacts under the law. And the best thing for us to do to stop the clock from running and having to refile for depositions was for us to withdraw without prejudice so we could refile the suit if we needed to, six months to a year from now,” said Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney.
Chaney says the insurance commission is keeping a close eye on FEMA to make sure people who were affected by high rate increases are paid back.
“We got people that had 12, 13, 14 thousand dollar bills. Well, FEMA has to refund the difference in those rate increases.”
Congress did not give a deadline to FEMA refund those bills, only saying it should be done in a timely manner. If repayment is not done in a timely manner, Chaney says he will file another lawsuit.
