HARTFORD, Conn. | The Connecticut House of Representatives has voted in favor of a $12 annual surcharge on every residential homeowner’s policy to financially help hundreds, if not thousands, of homeowners with crumbling foundations.
The bill was approved Saturday, 97-to-42. It now awaits Senate action.
Lawmakers from eastern and central Connecticut gave emotional pleas for the surcharge, which may generate about $10 million annually for a limited 10-year-period.
Republican Rep. Tim Ackert of Coventry spoke about how his neighbors just paid off their mortgage last year, only to have a contractor knock down the structure and build a new home.
The concrete foundations are failing because of an iron sulfide, pyrrhotite (PEER’-eh-tyt), which has reacted naturally with oxygen and water.
Lawmakers say insurers and the federal government also need to help the homeowners.