SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 57

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Kent L. Cravens

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING MEMBERS OF THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO INTERVENE WITH THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY ON BEHALF OF THE TOWN OF BERNALILLO AND OTHER POTENTIALLY AFFECTED AREAS OF THE STATE TO REQUEST A RETURN TO FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAPS THAT PREDATE MARCH 2008.

     WHEREAS, on August 22, 2005, the federal emergency management agency issued a memorandum to its regional directors announcing that a committee had been formed to examine current regulations governing levees preparatory to reevaluating the national flood insurance program; and 

     WHEREAS, on December 14, 2006, the federal emergency management agency held a community coordination meeting to present the results of a countywide flood insurance study and the preliminary flood insurance rate map for Sandoval county, which is the county seat for the town of Bernalillo; and

     WHEREAS, at the December 14, 2006 meeting, the process to appeal the findings and recommendations of the flood study and the preliminary flood insurance rate maps was presented; and

     WHEREAS, on February 7 and March 1, 2008, a notice was published in the Albuquerque Journal announcing the intention of the federal emergency management agency to raise the base flood elevations and identifying actions that communities were required to take in order to remain eligible to participate in the national flood insurance program; and

     WHEREAS, the practical effect of the proposed new base flood elevations and proposed revisions to the flood insurance rate map for the region would be an expansion of the areas that qualified as flood plain areas, adding an estimated five hundred homes to those homes that would be required to obtain flood insurance; and

     WHEREAS, in the spring of 2008, homeowners newly affected by the raised base flood elevations and the revised flood insurance rate map began receiving notification from the banks holding their federally insured mortgages, which stated that the homeowners were now required to obtain flood insurance in order to comply with requirements of the federal emergency management agency; and

     WHEREAS, the premium costs for this flood insurance reportedly ranged from four hundred dollars ($400) per year to four thousand dollars ($4,000) per year; and

     WHEREAS, in the fall of 2008, the regulations governing the base flood elevations were finalized; and

     WHEREAS, revisions to base flood elevations and flood rate insurance maps occurred in large part due to the failure of the levees and subsequent flooding that occurred in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina; and 

     WHEREAS, the average elevation in New Orleans is six feet to twenty feet, and the average rainfall there is more than five inches per year; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico, frequently referred to as an area of high desert, has an average elevation of more than five thousand feet, and the average yearly rainfall is less than one inch; and

     WHEREAS, base flood elevations and flood rate insurance maps should reflect the local geography and annual precipitation common to the region; and

     WHEREAS, since the date that the regulations raising the base flood elevations were finalized, the town of Bernalillo has hosted several meetings facilitating discussion between the federal emergency management agency, providers of flood insurance, banks and residents to attempt to ameliorate this situation, but no resolution of the problem has been achieved; and

     WHEREAS, residents of the town of Bernalillo feel that they have been grossly and negatively affected by the unanticipated and exorbitant insurance premium cost of flood insurance, causing some residents to fear that they may lose their homes; and

     WHEREAS, other communities in New Mexico are similarly affected;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that Congressman Martin T. Heinrich, Congressman Ben R. Lujan, Senator Jeff Bingaman and Senator Tom Udall of the New Mexico congressional delegation be requested to intervene with the federal emergency management agency on behalf of the town of Bernalillo and other potentially affected areas of the state to request a return to flood insurance rate maps that predate March 2008; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to Congressmen Heinrich and Lujan and Senators Bingaman and Udall.

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