“We have a working coast, not second or vacation homes,” Donelon said. “This is important for Louisiana as well as the rest of the country. We need forbearance from the rate increases mandated by the 2012 law,” he said.

The president agreed to read the letter, but did not make a commitment to act on it, Donelon added.

Asked why Louisiana, where 49% of flood insurance policies are subsidized, wanted special treatment while it has declined to open its own insurance exchange and will not accept the additional Medicaid funds states can access through a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Donelon acknowledged that Louisiana is the state that “most benefits” from subsidized flood insurance rates.

GNO and the associations of homebuilders and real estate agents previously outlined their problems with the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act at a hearing held Tuesday by a House Financial Services Committee subcommittee. Hecht testified that imposing the rate hikes would be “economically unwise and morally unjust.”

Meanwhile, 15 members of the Senate led by Mary Landrieu (D-La.) introduced a bill as an amendment to the defense reauthorization act now on the Senate floor. The bill would delay the rate increases mandated by the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act for as long as four years in some cases, its supporters estimate.