Tuesday, March 27, 2007                                                       

Missouri Senate Committee Takes Leadership Role in
Protecting Families from Natural Catastrophes

The nation’s leading catastrophe experts today praised action by the Missouri Senate Small Business, Insurance and Industrial Relations Committee to consider legislation that would create the 'Missouri Catastrophe Fund,' calling the committee’s action a 'signal that Missouri’s legislature is taking pro-active steps to protect the state’s residents from the potential devastation of a massive natural disaster like a repeat of the New Madrid Earthquakes.'

'The US Congress and state legislatures across the country are beginning to recognize the reality that massive natural catastrophes have struck before and will strike again.  The Senate Insurance Committee’s action today is putting Missouri at the forefront of resolving a pressing national priority,' said Robert W. Porter, executive director of ProtectingAmerica.org, a national non-profit organization dedicated to finding better ways to prepare and protect American families from natural catastrophes.

'The committee’s action today will help shine a new light on the potential impact of another massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault,' Porter said.

'By holding hearings on the Missouri Catastrophe Fund, the committee is moving one step closer to enhancing protection for Missouri families and sending a message to Washington that natural catastrophe is not limited to Gulf State hurricanes or California earthquakes,' he said.

'As every Missourian knows, the largest earthquake to ever rock the Continental United States wasn’t in San Francisco, but right in the middle of the country, starting from New Madrid, Missouri,' he added.

The Senate Small Business, Insurance and Industrial Relations Committee today considered Senate Bill 518, sponsored by Senator Rob Mayer and co-sponsored by Senator Jason Crowell, which would establish the Missouri Catastrophe Fund to help pay covered residential property damage insurance claims in the aftermath of a true catastrophe that affects Missouri homeowners. The fund, which will consist of premiums paid by insurers, bond revenues, and appropriated state funds, will provide a backstop for companies to insure against covered catastrophic losses to avoid the collapse of the property insurance market in the wake of a major natural disaster or other catastrophe in the state.

The Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives today heard testimony on catastrophe protection legislation at the national level.  The federal legislation would create a nation backstop to the state plan proposed in SB 518.

About ProtectingAmerica.org

ProtectingAmerica.org is a non-profit organization that is co-chaired by James Lee Witt, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Admiral James M. Loy, former deputy secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security and former commandant of the US Coast Guard.  The organization’s membership includes the American Red Cross and other first responders, emergency management officials, disaster relief experts, insurers and others.  Its members include more than 200 other organizations and businesses.

At the core of ProtectingAmerica.org’s mission is the establishment of a comprehensive, integrated national catastrophe management solution that will better prepare and protect American families, communities, consumers and the American economy from catastrophe.   ProtectingAmerica.org is working to increase public awareness and enhance consumer education; advocate for better coordination with local, state and federal mitigation and recovery efforts, and strengthen emergency response and financial mechanisms to rebuild after a major catastrophe.

The organization supports comprehensive federal legislation that would establish a privately financed national catastrophe fund that would serve as a backstop to state catastrophe funds.  The funds’ private deposits and the majority of its earnings could only be used to cover replacement and rebuilding costs following major catastrophic events.  A portion of the funds’ earnings would be dedicated to increase public and consumer education, strengthen first responders, and enhance building codes and their enforcement.

ProtectingAmerica.org was formed in 2005 to lead a concentrated effort to improve the way America prepares for and protects its families, communities, consumers and economy from catastrophe.

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