The Missouri Senate Committee on Small Business, Insurance and Industrial Relations took a major step forward yesterday to protect the state’s homeowners and help fund first responders by favorably reporting from committee legislation sponsored by Senator Rob Meyer (R-25th district) that would create the Missouri Catastrophe Fund.
'Committee action on this bill moves Missouri a major step closer to ensuring that homeowners throughout the state will be provided with the preparation and protection they need before, during and after a massive earthquake or other natural catastrophe strikes the state,' according to James Lee Witt, co-chair of ProtectingAmerica.org and former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
'By establishing a fund that is supported by insurer contributions, not taxpayer dollars, and is created to provide backstop financial coverage in addition to resources that help underwrite critical mitigation, preparation and first responder efforts, Missouri’s residents will be among the national leaders in catastrophe preparation and protection,' Witt added.
ProtectingAmerica.org is the largest coalition of first responders, small and large businesses, insurers and other organizations dedicated to improving the way that American families are prepared for and protected from the devastation that comes from massive natural catastrophes. The organization’s membership includes more that 15,000 individual members, the American Red Cross and over 300 other organizations and businesses.
Senator Mayer’s legislation 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.
'This bill takes a prospective and proactive view toward catastrophe by setting aside private monies for homeowner recovery and by creating a stable and reliable funding source for first responder programs and catastrophe mitigation efforts long before the next earthquake rocks Missouri,' said Admiral James M. Loy (USCG, ret.) who also serves as co-chair of ProtectingAmerica.org.
'Creating a catastrophe fund that is supported by insurer premiums will assure that Missouri homeowners will be able to collect the money they need to rebuild and recover creating a growing pool of private funds that will serve as the ultimate backstop in the event that earthquake damages are so monumental that they exhaust the reserves of private insurers and their reinsurers,' according to David Smith, a national insurance expert and a director of ProtectingAmerica.org.
'Creating such a fund will not only assure the adequacy of recovery money for homeowners, it will reduce the reliance on costly reinsurance which accumulates no long-term value but adds tremendously to the annual cost of homeowners insurance,' Smith added
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 15,000 individuals and over 300 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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