Fla. pols to lobby Washington for national catastrophe fund

By | February 12, 2007

After the Florida Legislature passed a bill that lawmakers say will address the state’s insurance problems, Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders said their attention will be on pushing for a national catastrophe fund.

Crist plans to lobby his peers from around the country at the National Governors’ Association meeting in Washington next month, while House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt are organizing a state/federal summit which will have the issue on the agenda.

Other coastal states are experiencing similar insurance problems, if not to the same degree as Florida, said Pruitt. “North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Texas — they have the same challenges we have,” he said. “You just take those states around the coast of our country and there’s enough congressional members there to make anything that needs to happen happen.”

On top of that, Rubio said the effort to move up Florida’s presidential primary so the state is more influential in the outcome could put pressure on candidates to address the issue. “You don’t have to answer those questions now in Iowa and New Hampshire, but you’ll have to answer that in Florida. And now California is looking to move up their primary, and you’ll have to answer it there as well,” said Rubio.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has already written to Crist to express interest in working together on insurance.

Share disaster risk
Florida’s congressmen and Sens. Mel Martinez, a Republican, and Bill Nelson, a Democrat, also favor the idea of a national catastrophe fund. Policy holders around the country would share the risk in the event of a major disaster no matter where it occurs — an earthquake in California, a hurricane striking Texas, a tornado in Kansas or a flood along the Mississippi River.

But members of Florida’s congressional delegation point out that it’s going to be a hard sell in states like Montana. While the House may have a large number of votes in California, Texas and Florida to counter those from states where disasters aren’t a problem, all votes are equal in the Senate. “If you are a senator from Montana or Colorado, no amount of persuasive speeches are going to make you essentially tax your constituents to subsidize the hurricane risk in Florida,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, a Republican from the Orlando.

“Anyone that is trying to convince Florida’s homeowners that a resolution at the federal level is right around the corner is being overly optimistic,” Feeney said.

Still, freshman U.S. Rep. Ron Klein is optimistic. He said House Financial Services Committee chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is supportive. “He has personally said to me ‘I want to help you get something moving on this,'” Klein said.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California Florida Catastrophe Texas Washington

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