TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending June 18, 2004

S 1663 to replace certain Coastal Barrier Resources System maps.

BRIEF

   The bill would  exclude 49 privately owned acres of land in the Cape Fear, North Carolina region from inclusion in the Coastal Barrier system and would allow the owner of the land to purchase flood insurance from the Federal government. A lender will usually not lend on such property unless it is insured and the Federal program is usually the only insurance that can be acquired. An additional 5,961 acres of property known as “Other Protected Areas” (OPAs) would be included in the system. To do so would be to replace two maps considered inaccurate.

Sponsor: Senator Elizabeth H. Dole (R-NC)

Vote: Passed Senate by unanimous consent. Passed House.

Cost to taxpayer: CBO sees little impact from the bill but noted that the increase in insurance premium revenue for the new 49 acres could be offset by the cost of paying a claim should the property improvements be damaged by a storm.

MORE INFORMATION

   The committee report explained that the ‘Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) was passed in 1982 to establish a prohibition against Federal spending, primarily Federal flood insurance assistance and Federal infrastructure spending, in areas in the CBRA areas. No prohibitions exist against private expenditures in CBRA units and individuals who chose to build and invest in these hazard-prone areas will incur the full cost of that risk. Approximately 590,000 acres were established as CBRA units along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States.’

    ‘In 1990, Congress passed the Coastal Barrier Improvement Act, which extended CBRA units into the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The 1990 statute also established designations of `otherwise protected areas' (OPAs) into the unit system. Properties located within an OPA unit are ineligible for Federal flood insurance.’

   ‘In 2000 the Coastal Barrier Resources Reauthorization Act made a series of programmatic changes to the USFWS operation of the program. The statute also renamed the unit system as the `John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System.'

   S. 1663 will adopt two new maps for the NC-07P unit that exclude 49 acres of privately owned property and include 5,961 acres of additional OPA property to more accurately depict the protected area boundaries. The new maps were developed in collaboration with local landowners and officials from local property owners, conservancy groups, the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. military. ## All Rights Reserved. No reproduction or distribution without written permission from TheWeekInCongress.com