Sen. Robert Menendez introduced a bill Tuesday calling for sweeping National Flood Insurance Program reform.
The bill was co-sponsored by senators from other flood-prone states.
The legislation calls for the lowering of annual premium increases to 10 percent. It also shifts flood response funding from rebuilding efforts to flood prevention, invests in new state-of-the-art flood maps and eliminates wasteful spending and reverses incentives which hurt homeowners.
Toms River resident George Kasimos says that he just finished rebuilding his home which was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. He tells News 12 New Jersey that this is the best flood insurance reform bill that he has seen.
“The old bill was between 19 and 38 percent increases,” he says.
Superstorm Sandy left Paul Jeffry's Ortley Beach neighborhood under several feet of water and damaged or destroyed nearly every home.
He says that his experiences are the perfect example of why National Flood Insurance Program reform is so important. He says that his neighbor couldn't afford to stay his home which was damaged, and it had to be torn down.
“All those properties would simply become unaffordable without the subsidy from the NFIP,” he says.
The National Flood Insurance Program insures between 5 and 6 million homes across the United States.
The deadline to pass the reform bill is Sept. 30.