Congressional leaders, local lawmakers address climate woes

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Budget Committee, and Congresswoman Kathy Castor led a roundtable discussion on climate change and skyrocketing state insurance premiums Saturday in St. Petersburg.

The Congressional Democrats strategically held the event at the Shore Acres Recreation Center. The city’s lowest-lying neighborhood has chronic flooding issues.

State Sen. Darryl Rouson, Rep. Lindsay Cross, Mayor Ken Welch, City Councilmember Brandi Gabbard and local environmental experts joined the discussion on how soaring insurance costs affect families and could lead to a federal bailout. Whitehouse credited Castor for her extensive efforts to mitigate the “climate crisis.”

“Florida is first and worst in what climate change is doing to property insurance rates,” Whitehouse said. “This is coming to all coastal areas of the United States, so understanding what’s going on in Florida is really important to us.”

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (left) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Senate Budget Committee. Screengrab.

The event’s impetus was Gov. Ron DeSantis warning that Citizens Property Insurance, the state’s insurer of last resort, faces insolvency. Former St. Pete Sen. Jeff Brandes told the Catalyst that the publicly subsidized company was collapsing in October 2022.

Recent developments have further validated his claims. The U.S. Senate Budget Committee has since held multiple hearings on how climate change is upending insurance and real estate markets.

The committee has also launched a series of investigations to discern how insurers are navigating increased environmental risks. Members have requested documents and information regarding Citizens’ long-term solvency and remain concerned that bankruptcy poses a federal budget risk.

“We’ve had Senate Budget Committee testimony from the big mortgage companies that a property insurance crisis cascades into a mortgage crisis,” Whitehouse said. “And when you can’t get mortgages, that cascades into a property value crash.”

He stressed that mitigating property insurance woes requires local, state and federal leaders to address climate change. “It’s not about polar bears any longer,” he said.

Castor noted that the average Florida homeowner pays over $6,000 annually for property insurance. She said state rates have nearly doubled in recent years and now pace the nation.

After the event, Cross told the Catalyst that she, Rouson and Gabbard were able to share constituents’ local experiences with Whitehouse. She believes the congressional leader was “very open” to their thoughts on federal assistance.

“Being chair of the Senate Budget Committee is a pretty powerful position,” Cross said. “And clearly, there’s a need for investments in communities like Shore Acres.”

The group toured a repeatedly flooded neighboring home. Cross called that a “powerful” illustration of what many St. Petersburg residents now face.

She also called Castor’s local advocacy a cause for optimism. Cross believes Dr. Gary Mitchum, professor and associate dean of the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida, made an impression with his “sobering presentation.”

Mitchum has warned that sea levels increased about two inches every 25 years through the 20^th century. That has doubled since 1999.

Mitchum expects those rates and local flooding events to soar nearly ten-fold by the mid-2030s. “This is not a linear pattern,” said Cross, also an environmental scientist. “It starts to increase exponentially.”

“And we know how vulnerable this (Shore Acres) and other parts of the city are, just with a heavy afternoon rainstorm,” she added. “If you get that on top of higher sea levels, things can get dire pretty quickly.”

From left: State Sen. Lindsay Cross, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and City Councilmember Brandi Gabbard. Photo: Facebook.

Cross has sponsored state legislation to create a carbon sequestration task force, expand storm hardening grant programs, increase resiliency planning funding and incentivize schools to implement solar arrays. She pledged to continue those efforts.

Cross believes city officials must reassess resiliency plans in low-lying acres like Shore Acres and Riviera Bay. She suggested identifying areas for planned relocation or elevating homes.

Gabbard said she has fought for increased resiliency funding for the past 15 years. She wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to overhaul grant programs that help residents elevate their homes.

Gabbard explained that administrative changes enacted in 2022 made it more difficult for residents to receive mitigation credits and rebuild or elevate homes after a disaster. “I really went there in an effort to share our local message that we need more help from our federal government,” she said.

The overarching goal, Gabbard added, is to ensure low-lying neighborhoods are “viable for decades to come.” She said a national coalition among coastal state leaders is cause for optimism.

Whitehouse has called Florida the canary in the coal mine that is climate change, but Gabbard noted that “we are not alone.” The discussion was prescient, as city council members will have a comprehensive conversation Thursday regarding the Resilient St. Pete action plan.

Gabbard said she hopes the much-anticipated initiative leads to “real action from everyone involved.” Flooding issues have increased throughout the city, and mitigating the problem is “really going to take all hands on deck.”