From Bloomberg:

“By subsidizing risk, we are encouraging people to build in areas they shouldn’t build and putting that on the taxpayers,” said R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow at R Street Institute, a Washington-based research organization.

“It is a wrenching process, but as we see sea levels rise and as we see global warming, we are going to see more of this,” said Lehmann, who helped write the law sponsored by Representatives Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, and Judy Biggert, an Illinois Republican.

Lehmann said the legislation was backed by fiscal conservatives who want to shift the financial burden of waterfront living to homeowners from all taxpayers, and environmentalists who say cheap flood insurance leads to development in sensitive areas.

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