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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) North Dakota Senator John Hoeven told a gathering of community and business leaders in Grafton that the first piece of legislation the Senate plans to take up when it returns on January 27 is a bill he is cosponsoring that would delay scheduled increases in flood insurance premiums. Also included in the legislation is the Hoeven-Heitkamp Flood Safe Basements Act, a measure Hoeven authored to make sure homeowners receive credit for flood proofed basements when flood insurance rates are determined.

The legislation will prevent the Federal Emergency Management Agency from steeply increasing flood insurance rates before it studies the impact of raising rates on policy holders. The measure will help ensure affordable premiums for millions of Americans, including a number of the residents and business owners in North Dakota.

Hoeven says, “Our bill requires FEMA to complete an affordability study to help preserve affordable flood insurance premiums, as well as an important provision I authored that ensures communities like Grafton are able to continue using flood proofed basement credits to determine their premiums.”

Hoeven has been working directly with FEMA to ensure that the agency maintains the current Base Flood Elevation insurance rating method that determines insurance rates by evaluating the lowest proofed opening in a home rather than the lowest floor, or basement approach.