WASHINGTON – New Jersey and New York senators launched a task force Tuesday aimed at overhauling the federal flood insurance program in order, they said, to avoid the problems that their constituents confronted after Superstorm Sandy.
"Your government failed you, plain and simple, and you deserve much, much better," Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), the Sandy Task Force leader, said as he opened the group's first hearing. The aim, he said, is to "bring justice" to victims who were underpaid by the federal insurance program an make sure that "never happens again."
Around 50 people attended, largely from Ocean and Monmouth counties along the Jersey shore, according to Menendez's staff.
The task force includes Sens. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.
It formed amid concerns that insurers working with the federal flood insurance program may have underpaid homeowners, in some cases by relying on reviews that altered engineers' original findings, often without homeowners' knowledge. The senators said the claims process threw up obstacles for people who had lost their homes and were trying to get payments they were entitled to after years of paying insurance premiums.
"We're here to listen," Fugate said, adding that the agency should pay what it owes.
But he and the senators raised concerns that in the zeal to avoid overpayments to policyholders, the FEMA program may actually encourage insurance contractors to push for payments that are too small. Fugate said the program may be too focused on process, rather than customers.
The vast majority of flood insurance policies come through the federal government, because the cost through private insurers would be prohibitive.
Menendez hopes to reform the program, though it's unclear exactly how that will happen – whether through a bill, or changes within FEMA. The task force also includes outside experts and Sandy advocates.
You can follow Tamari on Twitter or email him at jtamari@phillynews.com.