WASHINGTON (AP) — House GOP leaders are putting the final touches on legislation that would significantly weaken a recently enacted overhaul of the much criticized federal flood insurance program, easing many premium increases and allowing below-market rates to be passed on to people buying homes with taxpayer-subsidized policies.

The new law was enacted in 2012 and was aimed at weaning hundreds of thousands of homeowners off of subsidized rates and required extensive updating of the flood maps used to set premiums, but its implementation has stirred anxiety among many homeowners along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and in flood plains, many of whom are threatened with unaffordable rate increases.