The City of Long Beach’s federal legislative advocacy/lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. advised city management as part of a routine legislative update on June 5 that a previously stalled flood insurance bill — which includes a section that could require thousands of homeowners and commercial property owners in low-flood risk parts of Long Beach and southeastern L.A. County (whose properties carry loans from federally backed lenders) to buy costly “flood insurance” each year for the indefinite future — had begun to move forward in the Senate.

City Manager Pat West then sent the DC memo to the City Council’s Federal Legislation Committee (DeLong, Garcia, Gabelich), cc’d to the Mayor and Councilmembers, nearly two weeks later on June 18 without any particular notation of the significance of its content.

The information on the flood insurance bill was part of a periodic “Legislative Update” from DC based Van Scoyoc & Associates to City Manger Pat West and Director of Government Affairs/Strategic Initiatives Tom Modica for the period April-May 2012 and was dated June 5. On June 18, City Manager Pat West conveyed the DC Legislative Update to the Federal Legislative Committemembers, cc’d to the Mayor and Council, with the following:
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