STATE FARM'S HEAD ON A PLATTER
What Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor wanted the Easter Bunny to bring him.
South Mississippi Living 4/07

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Our Opinion: Mr. Bush, don't kill the multi-peril bill

Sunday, September 30, 2007

With billions of dollars and millions of lives on the line, President George W. Bush announced that he will veto a bill to offer windpool insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program.

The announcement last week from the White House left U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor dumbfounded. Taylor is the author of the multi-peril insurance legislation.

He maintains it is needed along the hurricane-prone U.S. coastlines since private insurance companies jacked their rates up in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

At first glance, it might seem reasonable that the insurance industry would raise rates. After all, the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane caused billions of dollars in damages. After the storm left its devastating mark on Louisiana and Mississippi, the insurance companies operating on the Coast came under fire for denying claims, underpaying claims and refusing to write policies. Their actions have also spawned a host of lawsuits that are still winding through the court system.

And those are exactly why the multi-peril legislation is needed. Though some may consider it foolhardy to continue living on the waterfront, the simple truth is that in the United States the bulk of the population lives within 50 miles of a coastline. As insurance companies pull away from this region in the light of record breaking claims payments from Katrina, someone has to step into the breach and fill the gap.

The bill is headed for the Senate. Sen. Trent Lott, a son of Pascagoula who lost his home to Katrina and was a member of a lawsuit against insurance companies filed by Pascagoula attorney Richard Scruggs, said he has some reservations about adding additional responsibility to the federal flood insurance program. But, he's also said he would consider adding wind damage to similar legislation in the Senate.

Bush, Lott and Thad Cochran, Mississippi's other senior statesman in the Senate, need to seriously weigh the consequences of this bill. Not just the added burden to the federal government, but also the added burden to millions of homeowners who are increasingly being priced out of the insurance market because of the probability of a hurricane.

Let these men know your stand on the multi-peril bill. Share your views with the president by writing to The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500. Or call and leave your comments at (202) 456-1111.

Sen. Lott can be reached locally at (228) 762-5400 and Sen. Cochran can be reached through his office in Gulf Port at (228) 867-9710.

Copyright 2007 gulflive.com. All Rights Reserved.
The Mississippi Press published this editorial.

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Saturday, September 29, 2007

Settlement reached in Katrina insurance trial

9/29/2007, 2:08 p.m. CT
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
The Associated Press


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal trial over Hurricane Katrina damage ended abruptly with a settlement between the insurance company and the Mississippi couple whose property damage, a jury decided, had been caused by the storm's wind and should have been covered by the couple's policy.


Terms of the settlement between USAA Casualty Insurance Co. and Kevin and Sherrye Webster were not disclosed. But an attorney for the couple, Charles Merkel, called the outcome "very satisfying to everybody."

USAA spokesman David Snowden confirmed the settlement but declined comment.

On Friday, the eight-member jury concluded that all of the damage to the couple's beachfront house in Bay St. Louis, Miss., was caused by Katrina's wind, wind-blown debris or wind-driven rain — perils that are covered by the San Antonio-based insurer's policies.

The jury wasn't asked to specify how much money USAA owes the Websters for the damage.

USAA had argued that nearly all of the damage to the two-story home was caused by Katrina's flood waters and wasn't covered by the Websters' policy, but the jury disagreed.

"I think it's a big victory for all the homeowners on the Gulf Coast," said attorney John Cocke, who also represents the Websters.

Friday's verdict capped the first phase of a trial that started last week in Gulfport, Miss. The next phase had been set to resume Tuesday, with the jurors hearing testimony about damage to the contents of the two-story house. Ultimately, the judge was to be responsible for calculating what USAA owes the Websters, based on the jury's verdicts.

But the settlement, reached Friday after the jury had been sent home, eliminates the need for that.

USAA and other insurers say their homeowner policies cover damage from a hurricane's wind but not its rising water, including surge. The Websters didn't have a separate flood insurance policy.

USAA blamed most of the damage to the couple's house on Katrina's storm surge, but the couple argues that wind caused the house to collapse before surge reached it.

The Websters' policy had limits of $811,000 for the house, $81,000 for a barn on their property, $162,200 for living expenses and $760,480 for the home's contents. USAA paid them $10,944 for wind damage to the house and $42,929 for the barn.

Cocke said Friday's verdict means USAA will owe the Websters at least $800,000.

The Websters also are seeking unspecified punitive damages for the company's alleged bad faith, plus attorney's fees and expenses. Jurors won't be asked to consider punitive damages until later in the trial.

The couple is among thousands of Mississippi and Louisiana property owners who have sued their insurers after Katrina wiped out large swaths of the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

Several federal trials for Katrina insurance cases already have been held in Gulfport, Miss., yielding mixed results for policyholders.

In August 2006, U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. sided with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and ruled that the company wasn't obligated to pay a Pascagoula couple for damage from Katrina's rising water. A federal appeals court in New Orleans later upheld that ruling.

In January, however, a jury awarded $2.5 million in punitive damages to a Biloxi couple who sued State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. for denying their claim. Senter later reduced the award to $1 million, though he said State Farm had acted in a "grossly negligent way."
_______

A.M. in the Morning! Note: On the heels of this story being published, the parties settled the case. See
Settlement reached in Katrina insurance trial

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Jury sides with policyholders in Katrina insurance trial

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press Writer



A federal jury in south Mississippi sided Friday with a couple who sued their insurance company after Hurricane Katrina for refusing to cover more than $1.7 million in damage to their beachfront home and property.

The eight-member jury wasn't asked to specify how much money USAA Casualty Insurance Co. owes Kevin and Sherrye Webster for damage to their home in Bay St. Louis.

But jurors concluded that all of the damage to the couple's house was caused by Katrina's wind, wind-blown debris or wind-driven rain - perils that are covered by the San Antonio-based insurer's policies.

USAA had argued that nearly all of the damage to the two-story home was caused by Katrina's flood waters and wasn't covered by the Websters' policy, but the jury disagreed.



"I think it's a big victory for all the homeowners on the Gulf Coast," said attorney John Cocke, whose law partner, Charles Merkel, represents the Websters.

Friday's verdict capped the first phase of a trial that started last week in Gulfport, Miss. In the next phase, which begins Tuesday, jurors are expected to hear testimony about damage to the contents of the two-story house.

At the conclusion of the trial, U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. will be responsible for calculating how much money USAA owes the Websters, based on the jury's verdicts.

USAA spokesman David Snowden said he wouldn't comment until after the trial concludes.

USAA and other insurers say their homeowner policies cover damage from a hurricane's wind but not its rising water, including surge. The Websters didn't have a separate flood insurance policy.

USAA blamed most of the damage to the couple's house on Katrina's storm surge, but the couple argues that wind caused the house to collapse before surge reached it.

The Websters' policy had limits of $811,000 for the house, $81,000 for a barn on their property, $162,200 for living expenses and $760,480 for the home's contents. USAA paid them $10,944 for wind damage to the house and $42,929 for the barn.

Cocke said Friday's verdict means USAA will owe the Websters at least $800,000.

The Websters also are seeking unspecified punitive damages for the company's alleged bad faith, plus attorney's fees and expenses. But the request for punitive damages couldn't be considered until later in the trial.

The couple is among thousands of Mississippi and Louisiana property owners who have sued their insurers after Katrina wiped out large swaths of the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

Several federal trials for Katrina insurance cases already have been held in Gulfport, Miss., yielding mixed results for policyholders.

In August 2006, Senter sided with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and ruled that the company wasn't obligated to pay a Pascagoula couple for damage from Katrina's rising water. A federal appeals court in New Orleans later upheld that ruling.

In January, however, a jury awarded $2.5 million in punitive damages to a Biloxi couple who sued State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. for denying their claim. Senter later reduced the award to $1 million, though he said State Farm had acted in a "grossly negligent way."

The Sun Herald published this article on September 28, 2007.


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The Best of A.M. in the Mornin September 16 - 27, 2007

by Ana Maria

Blog Entries
Santa Barbara's ABC Affiliate Airs Compelling 2-Part Original Katrina Series 9.17.07
Tiny Katrina-Battered Miss.Town Triumphs Over Bush Administration 9.18.07
'Katrina Sign Maker' Joe De Benvenutti Tells His State Farm Story 9.19.07
Important Katrina Vote to Help Gulf Coast Recovery 9.24.07
American Soldiers: Caught in the Crosshairs of Iraq and Katrina 9.25.07
Bush, Barbour’s Katrina Housing Plans Smell Fishy 9.26.07
BIG Katrina Recovery Bill on House Floor Today 9.27.07
Taylor’s Tremendous Triumph: Family, Business Financial Security One Major Step Closer 9.28.07

News Items

A shocking slap at Americorps, heroes of Katrina Sun Herald 9.16.07

Legal tactics stall insurance reform Dallas Morning News 9.17.07
IRS has bad news on Road Home Times Picayune 9.17.07
Children Slipping Further Behind after Katrina Philanthro Media 9.17.07

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner's Race Has Far-Reaching Implications Policyholders of America 9.18.07
Merlin Group: 103 paid in State Farm settlement Sun Herald 9.18.07
Residents dispute corps plan Sun Herald 9.18.07
Al Showers Reports On The Need For Dredging In Bay St. Louis WLOX-TV 13 9.18.07

Land buyout plan shocks Hancock Sun Herald 9.19.07
Using crayons to ease the trauma of hurricane Katrina International Herald Tribune 9.19.07

Religious leaders protest port plan Sun Herald 9.20.07

Buy-outs may be ‘voluntary,’ but insurance a big question Sea Coast Echo 9.23.07

First trip to Coast since Katrina packs wallop on heart Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal 9.23.07
Hurricane Katrina Exacts Another Toll: Enduring Depression Washington Post 9.23.07

Buyout plan startles residents, businesses Sun Herald 9.24.07

Federal help sought for coastal insurance problem The Mississippi Press 9.25.07
Insurance bill up for voteSun Herald 9.25.07

Katrina victims ask Shelby for help Alabama Press Register 9.26.07
Breaking News: American Bankers Association Supports Muliple Peril Insurance Policy (H.R. 3121) 9.26.07


RAND study: Affordable housing lags in Miss areas hit by Katrina Sun Herald 9.27.07
Gulf Coast: Two Years Since Hurricane Rita WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas, 9.27.07

U.S. Coast Guard Wet Debris Removal In Final Stage 9.27.07
HOUSE APPROVES FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM BILL 9.27.07

House Approves Taylor Multi Peril Insurance Bill 9.27.07
House passes multi-peril bill; measure moves to Senate 9.27.07
House votes to expand flood insurance program Washington Post 9.27.07

© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Friday, September 28, 2007

See Congressman Gene Taylor in Action on the Floor!!

See Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) on the Floor
“One of the gentlemen mentioned that the insurance companies have settled 90-something percent of the claims. Let me address that. I was pretty busy as you might guess after the storm. I put off meeting with my adjuster for two weeks.

By the time I met with my adjuster I had heard dozens if not hundreds of my constituents, as I’m going around passing out MREs, telling me ‘they already told me they are not going to pay me… I had a homeowners’ policy, they’re not going to pay me.’

So by the time they came to my policy, to my house, I asked my agent: ‘Please don’t say a word. Each one of my steps is about three feet, let’s just count the steps until we find my roof.’ We passed off about 150 of them, 450 feet. I showed them my roof. Pointed out it was tin. Reminded them that tin doesn’t float. Showed them the holes where it had been ripped from the bolts.

I said, ‘This is my roof, I’m the only guy in this neighborhood that has this style roof, this is my roof, and it’s 450 feet from where my house used to be. Now, let’s walk back to where my house used to be.’ ‘Miss, what do you have to say?’ - Ms Lecky King, the claims adjuster.

First words out of her mouth: ‘I see no evidence of wind damage. We are however prepared to pay you for flooding.’

To which I reminded her that was very sweet of State Farm, that’s not their money, that’s the nation’s money. What about the claim for that roof that flew over there?
The House has just passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007 by a vote of 263-146. The bill reauthorizes for five years the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which was brought to the fore after Hurricane Katrina. The bill addresses many of the issues regarding insurance companies classifying damage as flood rather than wind so as to force the federal government to pay claims, which were brought up during extensive hearings in the new Congress.

The bill addressed the issues by expanding the NFIP to provide for multiple peril coverage (wind and flood), and with an amendment introduced by Rep. Gene Taylor (MS-04) which prohibits a company that sells and services flood insurance policies from including language in its own windstorm policies that would exclude coverage of wind damage solely because flooding also contributed to the damage.

It also provides for a new community outreach program, requires the updating and modernizing of flood maps, and addresses several other weaknesses in the program exposed by the 2005 hurricane season.

From Speaker Pelosi's blog, The Gavel.

© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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White House threatens to veto national wind insurance plan



By Ana Radelat
Clarion-Ledger Washington Bureau

September 27, 2007

WASHINGTON — A wind insurance plan proposed by 4th District Rep. Gene Taylor and championed by Democratic House leaders came under a White House veto threat Wednesday.

Taylor's proposal, embodied in a flood insurance reform bill the House plans to vote on today, would add wind coverage to the National Flood Insurance Program. That would allow homeowners who want to buy insurance against windstorm damage to purchase it with their flood policies.

But the Office of Management and Budget said shifting liabilities for windstorm damage from private insurers to the flood insurance program would be "fiscally irresponsible."

The federal government subsidizes flood insurance policies to offer homeowners in coastal and other flood-prone regions affordable insurance. Congress established the program in 1968.

But the OMB policy statement released Wednesday said adding wind coverage to flood insurance "would encourage individuals to task on risks that are inappropriate, putting themselves in harm's way because they would not have to bear the full costs of any subsequent damages."

It also said all taxpayers "would be subsidizing insurance rates for the benefit of people in those high-risk areas."

Taylor, a Democrat who lives on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, disagrees.

"They apparently didn't read the bill," he said of the OMB officials who recommended the veto.

Taylor said premiums collected from homeowners would pay all claims, without the need for taxpayer subsidies.

"At the end of the day, the homeowner will decide whether it's a good deal or not because he can choose whether to buy the policy," Taylor said.

Taylor proposed adding wind coverage to flood insurance after insurance companies denied Hurricane Katrina wind claims. Insurers maintained damage to coastal homes was caused by surging water, not winds.

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Taylor’s Tremendous Triumph: Family, Business Financial Security One Major Step Closer

by Ana Maria

With every desired amendment successfully voted into the legislation and all others definitively defeated, Congressman Gene Taylor’s multiple peril bill triumphed amid tremendous bi-partisan support to pass overwhelmingly in the U.S. House of Representatives. The final vote was 263 to 146. Nearly every Democratic member of the House voted for this pragmatic and forward thinking piece of legislation that protects our financial security. Adding their votes to the overwhelming majority total, 45 Republicans voted with their 218 Democratic colleagues to pass this pragmatic—and progressive—piece of legislation.

With Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s continuous support, we have overcome this major hurdle. With the support of Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) whose job it is to be certain that counted the votes to ensure a bill’s passage, we have overcome this major hurdle in Katrina recovery. With the support of Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) who chairs the House Financial Services Committee and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) who chairs the subcommittee that heard this bill, this legislation has been safely navigated through the U.S. House of Representatives. Thank you to each of this important leaders and their stubborn determination to do right by us.

Of course, George W. Bush issued a veto threat on the very day of this vote. Yeah, that went over like a lead balloon. Based on some philosophical perspective that says leaving the financial security of families and businesses to the whims of greedy gutted Big Insurance carriers is what defines one as a Republican.

The Republican leadership, of course, had their anti-family, anti-business game plan nailed down. The plan was executed with the designed results achieved—slow down the process, put forth specious arguments, pretend to be what they are not. Concerned about the financial well-being of the nation. With record deficits and a continuously dragging economy going on seven years now, all they have left is pretension.

Their slow down plan worked. Every amendment offered by the Democrats was voted on by voice vote. A Republican would then ask for the vote to be recorded. That’s another 15 minutes to find out again that many Congressional Republicans were on record as being out of touch with America’s financial security needs. The Democrats put up about a dozen amendments all of which passed easily, first by voice then by recorded votes.

The most hilarious argument that the Republicans offered was the one saying that Congress should not consider voting on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) approved, fiscally-sound multiple peril proposal until the federal flood insurance program’s financial fiasco was cleaned up. What a hoot! Congressman Frank pointed out that the program got to be a financial mess on the Republican watch and left that mess for the Democrats when they took over the Congressional leadership this past January.

Isn’t this a scream?! The Republicans are telling America that until someone else cleans up the mess that they had made of the federal flood insurance program that no other legislation—regardless of how rock solid, fiscally sound it is and how it will dramatically help our families and businesses—should be passed. Period. What a crock of rubbish.

None of those Republicans objecting to this bill ever put forth legislation to fix the problem with the flood program. None of them questioned whether Big Insurance was fraudulently passing their costs to the federal taxpayer.

In a letter to his congressional colleagues asking to support this strategic piece of legislation, Congressman Taylor wrote

Since Katrina, the federal government has paid more than $30 billion for housing repair grants, FEMA trailers, rental assistance, subsidized loans, tax deductions, and other housing assistance. Many of those costs could have been covered by insurance. Every taxpayer in America will benefit when much more damage is covered by insurance premiums rather than by costly and inefficient disaster assistance programs.

I’m so very proud that these courageous Congressional Democrats and Republicans put the financial security of our nation’s families and businesses above the security of their elected office. Surely Karl Rove and Company will target a number of these men and women in next year’s election. Nevertheless, they put America first. For this, I applaud each of them and hope you will, too.

Today is a day of congratulations, thanks, appreciation, and immense gratitude.

Congratulations to America for electing the men and women who passed this legislation in the face of a White House known for exacting its political revenge.

Immense gratitude to Congressman Gene Taylor and his staff who have worked diligently on this critical legislation.

Big thanks and much appreciation to Speaker Pelosi for caring about an area of the country deeply scarred by the Big Insurance’s gargantuan greed and White House Neanderthal-like neglect. Over a year ago, Speaker Pelosi promised this region that if the Democrats were in power in the House of Representatives, she would personally make certain that this legislation passed her chamber. This year at the August 13th Town Hall Meeting here in Bay St. Louis, Miss., I had the privilege of hearing her reiterate this pledge. The speaker is a woman of her word. With yesterday’s vote, she made good on her pledge.

Today’s political activity centers on this theme. Let’s contact our congressional representatives that voted for this legislation and tell them how grateful and thankful we are for their courage and their foresight in voting for the multiple peril legislation.

Think about it. When we’ve done our job, particularly if it may have been difficult to do, we respond favorably when someone thanks us afterward, right? We feel better about having done it. Next time something like it comes our way, we’re more likely to remember the gratitude we received. With that positive memory in place, we’re more likely to sign up for the next grueling task remembering that our previous hard work had been appreciated.

Our elected officials are human like the rest of us and will respond the same way. So, too, will their staff.

Imagine when the staffer in the office gets the call and takes down the message of . . . thanks and appreciation. Talk about being blown away! The smile slides across the face and the beaming from ear-to-ear emits this kind of after glow, a feeling of “hey, someone gave us a pat on the back. How cool is that!”

Yes, I’m definitely talking from my own experience. It works, baby. So, let’s burn up those phone and email lines with an attitude of gratitude. What a terrific way to start off the weekend. It can only get better from here—for our weekend and this legislation.

See, congressional members and their staffers are also friends with their counterparts in the U.S. Senate. They talk with each other. They eat lunch together. After a long day, they go out and have a drink together. Just like any other organization, Congressional offices cross-pollinate with friendships and the like. We need the buzz to go to the U.S. Senate. Contacting our congressional reps not only closes the loop on this phase of our political hell-raising, it also opens the door for a similar result in the U.S. Senate. It starts with saying thanks today so that the buzz can go around Capitol Hill.

As the Bonnie Rait song says, “Let’s give ‘em something to talk about.”


© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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House votes to expand flood insurance program



by Kevin Drawbaugh
Reuters
Thursday, September 27, 2007; 6:41 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to expand the federal government's flood insurance program to cover wind damage in a bill closely watched by insurers and developers.

Prompted by Katrina and other hurricanes in 2005, the bill would add wind damage to perils covered under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which protects millions of American homeowners.

The White House has vowed to veto the bill, saying it would expose taxpayers to excessive claims, crowd out private coverage and encourage over-development in high-risk areas.

There is no similar measure currently before the Senate.

But Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor told Reuters after the 263-146 vote that he expects fellow Mississippian Sen. Trent Lott, a Republican, to take up the idea of adding wind damage to the national flood insurance program in the Senate.

Taylor's home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina two years ago. Like many of his neighbors, he found after the storm that his insurer would not cover the damages as he had hoped.

Taylor said his bill will simplify coverage and "cut out a situation that I'm convinced bilked the federal government out of billions of dollars."

Some lawmakers questioned the bill in House floor debate.

"I am deeply concerned that we haven't come to grips with the financing of our flood insurance program," said Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer.

West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito said, "We must not let the desire to meet every perceived problem with a new government program drive us toward premature action that yields unwanted consequences."

The flood insurance "program is already financially unstable," he added.

The American Insurance Association warned that adding wind damage to the program would lead to a "fundamental realignment" of both the national flood insurance program and the private wind insurance market.

Marc Racicot, president of the association, which represents property and casualty insurers, said: "We believe the solution rests in improving, not displacing, the private sector's ability to serve homeowners and businesses in the path of potential storms."

© 2007 Reuters


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Thursday, September 27, 2007

House passes multi-peril bill; measure moves to Senate




By MARIA RECIO
SUN HERALD WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON --
The House passed legislation 263 to 146 expanding the federal flood insurance program to include wind damage, a change inspired by the Gulf Coast region hit by Hurricane Katrina but with repercussions for all coastal areas.

The bill was bipartisan, as 218 Democrats and 45 Republicans voted for the bill, despite a White House veto threat. Only one Democrat voted against the bill, Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y. There is no companion Senate bill, but House supporters are looking to House Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., who has been generally supportive of the "multi-peril" insurance approach.

The House vote makes good on promises made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to the Mississippi Gulf to help restore the economy by staving off lengthy insurance disputes.

The Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007 would enable policyholders of the flood insurance program to purchase wind policies, as well as making reforms in the overall program.

In an emotional speech, Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, author of the provision adding wind coverage to the flood insurance plan, recounted his personal experience after Katrina.

"A little over two years ago, the nation's worst disaster struck," said Taylor. He described the devastation to the Mississippi Gulf and the complete loss of his oceanfront Bay St. Louis home and that of Lott's Pascagoula home.

"Between my house and Sen. Lott's house, there are maybe 40 miles and only a handful of houses were left standing," he said.

Thanking the many people and sectors who helped Katrina victims, Taylor left no doubt as to his motivation behind the bill:

"About the only group that didn't try to help the people of South Mississippi were the insurance industry."

Taylor and Lott sued their insurer, State Farm Fire and Casualty Insurance Co. and settled earlier this year. More than 500 South Mississippi lawsuits are pending in federal court.

Read more about this story in Friday's edition of the Sun Herald .

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House Approves Taylor Multi Peril Insurance Bill

Taylor Wind/Water Policy Legislation included as Provision in Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, H.R. 3121

WASHINGTON, DC (September 27) – Today the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation to provide multi peril insurance sponsored by Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) to allow property owners to purchase wind and flood coverage in a single policy.

The text of the Taylor bill (H.R. 920) was included as a provision within a measure introduced by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-California), H.R. 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act. The bill passed by a vote of 263-146.

“Passage of this legislation will ensure that in future disasters homeowners won’t have to hire lawyers, engineers, and public adjusters to prove what damage was caused by wind and what was caused by flooding,” Taylor said.

Since Hurricane Katrina, the federal government has paid more than $30 billion for housing repair grants, FEMA trailers, rental assistance, subsidized loans, tax deductions, and other housing assistance. Taylor stated, “A significant amount of these costs could have been covered by insurance. Every taxpayer in America will benefit when much more damage is covered by insurance premiums rather than by costly and inefficient disaster assistance programs.”

The House also approved two related amendments offered by Rep. Taylor. One amendment would correct an inequity in current insurance law that has contributed to the severe shortage of apartment buildings and rental housing in Mississippi and Louisiana.

The second Taylor amendment prohibits insurance companies that contract with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) from using Anti-Concurrent Causation language in their own policies to exclude coverage of wind damage solely because flooding also contributed to the damage. This amendment adds to the contract a statement that the insurance company has a fiduciary responsibility to federal taxpayers and will act in the best interests of NFIP. It requires companies to provide written guidance to their agents and adjusters of this obligation.

The House also rejected a procedural motion which would effectively kill the Taylor multi-peril insurance provision. This “motion to recommit” was offered by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and was rejected by a vote of 179 yeas and 232 nays.

Taylor added, “I thank Speaker Pelosi, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Frank, Subcommittee Chairs Waters and Watt, for their steadfast assistance in passage of this vital legislation. I also am grateful for the support of the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Realtors, and the American Banking Association."

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HOUSE APPROVES FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM BILL





Legislation Includes Wind and Water Coverage Under One Policy

Washington, D.C. – House Majority Whip and Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Taskforce on Hurricane Katrina, James E. Clyburn, released the following statement today regarding passage of HR 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act.

“Two years ago Hurricanes Katrina and Rita pummeled our Gulf Coast with heavy winds, storm surge, and levee breaches that killed more than 1,600 people and caused billions of dollars in damage to thousands of homes and businesses. Many Gulf Coast residents were left to weather an even stronger storm in Katrina and Rita’s aftermath when their insurance companies abandoned them and refused to properly cover their losses.

“Today, the Democratic-led Congress passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, legislation designed to hold insurance companies more accountable and prevent the denials of coverage that so many Katrina and Rita survivors were rightfully entitled. Specifically, this bill authorizes the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to provide for an optional multiple peril policy to cover both wind and flood risk in one insurance policy.

“While the multiple peril provisions fall short of being as comprehensive as the Democratic Leadership would like, we will use this bill as a building block in promoting future initiatives with more inclusive multiple peril coverage plans.

“Democrats returned to the Gulf Coast on the Second Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina committed to a strong partnership for the future with the region. Passage of today’s legislation honors that commitment. I commend Congressman Gene Taylor for his advocacy and perseverance in pushing to get this important legislation to the House Floor.”


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U.S. Coast Guard Wet Debris Removal In Final Stage

BILOXI, Miss. -- Although he wasn't just "cruising down the river" in his new airboat, a contract employee for the U.S. Coast Guard Wet Debris removal program made a rather revealing discovery last spring while exploring wetlands along the northern rim of St. Louis Bay in Harrison County.

Using helicopters and adding more airboats to search the area, U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) officials corroborated the employee's find.

Coast Guard and FEMA operations personnel verified that approximately 680 acres of wetlands has been hidden from aerial flyovers by dead marine grass, downed trees and other debris since Hurricane Katrina's storm surge overwhelmed the area on Aug. 29, 2005.

Large pieces of debris that once had been a wall or roof of someone's home, dotted the area. At least a dozen small boats were also tossed into the newly-found area. Even automobiles and large appliances were amid the debris.

To get into the debris-filled areas without creating further damage, teams are traveling on existing logging roads, using trucks similar to ones the logging industry employs. Air boats reach the marsh's scattered debris, then ferry it back to staging areas. As much as possible, hand crews are collecting scattered debris to minimize damage to the marsh.

Mark Reyes, FEMA operations specialist reported that 183,284 cubic yards of wet debris have been removed from Hancock ( 87,510 ), Harrison and Jackson ( 53,470 ) counties, including 16,665 yards during the period Sept. 10-17.

"We are pleased to see the progress in the Gulf Coast recovery effort," said Sid Melton, director of the FEMA-Mississippi Transitional Recovery Office. "Nearing the culmination of a clean-up the magnitude of the wet debris program is another step in the right direction."

Gulf Coast wetlands cover some 72,000 acres of Mississippi's 48,000-plus square miles, according to the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources ( MDMR ) which is working with several federal and state agencies to restore portions of damaged wetlands, marshes and the Mississippi Sound's mean high tide line to four miles offshore.

FEMA obligated about $177 million to help clean the Mississippi's coastal and inland waterways following Katrina. The Coast Guard Debris Inter-Agency Agreement oversees the Wet Debris Removal program, while private contractors bid to do the work.

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

Original press release here dated September 27, 2007.

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Gulf Coast: Two Years Since Hurricane Rita



Posted: 10:56 AM Sep 24, 2007
Last Updated: 10:56 AM Sep 24, 2007
Reporter: AP

It's been two years since Hurricane Rita swept ashore, leaving a new trail of destruction in parts of the Gulf Coast, and deepening the scars in other places, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina only a few weeks earlier.

Rita's worst was concentrated in southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas; in both states, there is still a long way to go in rebuilding the damage from the storm.

Rita's Category 3 force, with 120-mph winds and a 9-foot storm surge, ruined every structure in the southwestern Louisiana towns of Johnson Bayou and Holly Beach, bringing similar destruction to southeastern Texas.

About 100 died in Texas, including 23 senior citizens whose bus exploded during evacuations.

The storm caused no fatalities in Louisiana, but plenty of property damage in Cameron and Vermilion parishes.

In Louisiana Monday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco is set to mark Rita's anniversary in Westlake and New Iberia, at events meant to highlight one of the lingering problems that has slowed the recovery process: a lack of qualified workers across southwestern Louisiana.

In Cameron, Louisiana, one of the hardest hit places - with the courthouse one of the only buildings not flattened by Rita - nearly all of the town's 1,000 residents still live in temporary housing.

Before Rita, there were twice as many people living in Cameron. Those that still do are pushing through more difficult circumstances that before the hurricane.

The post office operates out of a trailer. So does the only bank in town. There is no grocery, pharmacy or hospital; a rebuilt $23 million hospital is set to open in Cameron this fall with 20 beds.

Residents must drive 50 miles north to Lake Charles to buy supplies, on a two-lane highway that cuts through the region's marshland.

"It's not like it was before the storm, that's for sure," says Darlene Dyson, who makes a living by selling shrimp from a trailer, picks up her 7-year-old son at the end of the day for the trip back to their home - in another trailer.

Fast Facts
In Texas, Rita damaged about 80,000 properties in 22 counties. Two years later, records show that the state has spent less than 1 percent of the federal money allotted to fix or replace thousands of ruined homes.
Those who have moved back, or plan to, have complaints similar to those of residents hit by Hurricane Katrina: the process of moving home is stymied by disputes with property insurers and paperwork from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Marvin Trahan, 46, a native, is hoping a lawsuit against his insurer will be settled this year so he can move back. The storm destroyed his three-bedroom house. He now lives in Lake Charles but wants to build a smaller, replacement house on his property in Cameron.

Trahan said the pull of his hometown lies in its small-town peacefulness, plus its proximity to prime hunting and fishing areas.

"You can fish here, you can hunt here, you can do whatever you want," Trahan said. "You can leave your door unlocked all night without worrying about somebody coming in. It's just a great place to live."

It's not, however, a great place to own a motel.

Anil Patel, owner of the Cameron Motel, used to have 96 rooms. Half washed away during the hurricane. Today, the majority of his remaining 51 rooms usually sit vacant. Patel said he and his wife - who live in a trailer next to the motel - are struggling.

"I hope things pick up. But I don't know," he said.

In all, there were $5.8 billion in property insurance claims in Texas and Louisiana, according to a Texas insurance group. In Texas, the storm resulted in 220,641 insurance claims that totaled $2.8 billion, said the Insurance Council of Texas. In Louisiana, there were 201,157 claims totaling $2.6 billion, the group said.

In Texas, Rita made landfall near Sabine Pass on Sept. 24, 2005, it damaged about 80,000 properties in 22 counties of Southeast Texas. Some 15,000 homes were left in need of repairs.

Records show that the state has spent less than 1 percent of the federal money allotted to fix or replace thousands of ruined homes.

East Texas officials, whose counties were among those hit hardest after Rita roared ashore with 120 mph winds, say the state government has been slow to release funds. But state officials blame strict federal rules and argue that Texas received less money than Louisiana and Mississippi.

"It really appears to me that the state has had an overabundance of caution to prevent fraud and abuse," Walter Diggles, executive director of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments. "Every time we talk to them they say, 'Look, we don't want a Katrina,' or fraud with individual distributions."

Texas was awarded more than a quarter-billion dollars in two separate federal housing assistance installments.

So far, the state and the three regional councils of governments it enlisted have disbursed less than $200,000 of the federal housing assistance, according to figures released Sept. 13 in a report from the Texas Housing and Community Affairs Department. And more than $210 million remains untouched while Texas looks for a private contractor to do the repairs or rebuilding. The report was detailed in stories published Sunday in the Houston Chronicle and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Thirteen households had been assisted out of 423 that have qualified for help. Another 4,012 applicants are on state waiting lists for home repairs, according to the report.

Beth Anderson, chairwoman of TDHCA's governing board, said she's confident that one year from now the agency will have "delivered substantially the $40 million" awarded to Texas in the first installment.

In the meantime, residents are waiting and dealing with more damage.

Evie McBride, 72, wonders whether how long she'll be living in a Federal Emergency Management Agency travel trailer. Her home, a doublewide on the little piece of backwoods, remains in musty shambles since Rita struck.

"I tell you what is frustrating, is seeing a house that would have cost $5,000 to fix 30 days after the storm, will now cost $30,000 to fix because it's just steadily deteriorating," said Keith Billingsley, an inspector for the Deep East Texas COG.

Reported on WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas, on Setpember 24, 2007.

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RAND study: Affordable housing lags in Miss areas hit by Katrina






The Associated Press

The recovery of housing affordable in hurricane-damaged areas of South Mississippi lags significantly behind the rest of the region's housing market, according to new study.

The study by the Rand Corporation examined the impact of Hurricane Katrina on housing and the progress being made toward recovery in the region.

The report, "The study, "Post-Katrina Recovery of the Housing Market Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast," found that the affordability of rental housing was a major issue even before the 2005 storm, with nearly 40 percent of renters paying more than they could reasonably afford.

Katrina destroyed or severely damaged more than 20 percent - about 5,700 - of the affordable rental units in the southern portion of the state.

The study also found that residents in the storm-damaged area had seen a 20 percent increase in rents while employment has declined.

RAND, a nonprofit research organization, also reported that construction to repair or replace about 60 percent of all damaged multiunit housing had begun as of July. That number still lags behind repair and replacement of single-family homes.

Recovery efforts for all housing types are expected to take at least three more years and cost a total of more than $4 billion, according to the study.

The lack of affordable rental units added to the difficulty in attracting construction laborers and other workers needed to rebuild the region's infrastructure, the report said.

"The challenge for the region is to develop a balanced growth plan that provides housing for people at every income level," said Kevin McCarthy, the study's lead author and a senior social scientist at RAND. "There needs to be more affordable housing to create diversity in the economy and build a new, better Gulf Coast."

The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute works to develop a long-term vision and strategy to help build a better future for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Sun Herald originally posted this article on September 27, 2007.

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Multiple-peril add-on to NFIP vote is today

Bill draws Bush veto threat




Posted on Thu, Sep. 27, 2007
By MARIA RECIO
SUN HERALD WASHINGTON BUREAU


WASHINGTON -- On the eve of today's House vote, a bill that would expand the federal flood-insurance program to include wind damage drew a Bush administration veto threat.

The bill, championed by Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, is highly anticipated on the Gulf Coast where many residents are still battling insurers over storm damage done by Hurricane Katrina two years ago. Taylor, who settled his suit over the loss of his home, said the bill would resolve the disputes over the causes of damage - wind or water - that have been at the center of many lawsuits.

Despite the veto threat, Taylor was upbeat Wednesday night. "Things are falling in place," he said.

Though the administration and insurers oppose the bill, Taylor said the American Bankers Association, the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors support it.

"I'm disappointed in what we got from the White House Office of Management and Budget," said Taylor. He cited President Bush's meeting in Bay St. Louis with state and local officials on the Katrina anniversary "where every person at that table said we need all-perils insurance."

Taylor's bill to cover multiple perils of water and wind in the National Flood Insurance Program was attached to legislation approved by the House Financial Services Committee in July reforming and revamping the program.

Although the bill has strong support in the House, in a release the OMB issued a statement of administration policy opposing the wind provision.

"The administration strongly opposes H.R. 3121 in its current form," said the OMB statement. "If the final bill presented to the president includes provisions to expand the NFIP to include coverage for windstorm damage, his senior advisers will recommend that he veto the bill.

"The administration strongly opposes the expansion of H.R. 3121 to provide coverage for new risks, as this bill does for windstorm damage. Shifting liabilities for windstorm damage from the private sector to the NFIP would be fiscally irresponsible," it said.

Brian Martin, Taylor's policy director responsible for insurance, reacted to the OMB argument that the private sector would be displaced by saying, "What country are they (OMB) in? Half the Texas coast, all of Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina and the mid-Atlantic states are all in state wind pools."

"There is no private market," he said.

The Bush administration objects to expanding responsibilities to the insurance program, which is part of FEMA, because the program had to borrow $17.5 billion more than it took in because of Katrina claims.

Presidential veto threats can sway some lawmakers before a vote but House Financial Services Committee spokesman Steven Adamske said Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and others would argue for the legislation. "We're going to actively work for passage of the bill," said Adamske.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has made the bill a signature issue for the Democratic majority and highlighted the issue in trips to the Gulf Coast region.

The House Rules Committee considered amendments Wednesday and approved 13 amendments the House will consider today.

WEB

Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007

Here are the key features of H.R. 3121:

• Increases the amount FEMA can raise policy rates in any given year from 10 to 15 percent.

• Extends multiple-peril policies for wind damage where local governments agree to adopt and enforce building codes and standards designed to minimize wind damage.

• Allows any community participating in the flood insurance program to opt into the multiple-peril option. The multiple-peril residential-policy limit is $500,000 for the structure and $150,000 for contents. Nonresidential properties could be covered to $1 million for structure and $750,000 for contents, plus business interruption. Increases the maximum coverage limits for flood insurance policies. New coverage limits would be $335,000 for residences, $135,000 for residential contents, and $670,000 for businesses and churches.

• Phases in actuarial rates for vacation homes and nonresidential properties beginning Jan. 1, 2011. Proposed amendments to H.R. 3121

The House Rules Committee has made the following 13 amendments:

1. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.: Manager's Amendment. The manager's amendment does the following: (1) requires that homes insured by wind/water policies comply with existing model building codes from the International Code Council pursuant to request from the National Association of Home Builders; (2) requires that specific technologies be used for mapping floodplains (such as geospatial technologies); (3) adds a professional mapping association to the Mapping Advisory Council; (4) prohibits FEMA from enforcing a penalties assessed against individual condo owners where the condo complex is underinsured regarding flood coverage; (5) directs FEMA to develop a plan to verify that the recipients of Homeowner Assistance Grants in Mississippi and Road Home Grants in Louisiana, funded by HUD Community Development Block Grants, maintain flood insurance on their properties as required as a condition of the grants; and (6) codifies recommendations in a recently released GAO report (GAO 07-1078) with respect to the National Flood Insurance Program's payments to insurance companies for their administrative costs without requiring the companies to report their costs or to comply with the existing audit requirements. (10 minutes)

2. Reps. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif./Ross (Ark.)/Reyes (Texas): This amendment says that people forced to purchase flood insurance as a result of the new map who have lived in an area where the levees were previously certified, and have now been decertified, will receive a grace period of 5 years in which they will be entitled to a 50 percent reduction in their flood insurance premium while the levees are being recertified. (10 minutes)

3. Rep. Kathy Castor, D- Fla.: This amendment commissions a study by the GAO to examine the effect of the new multi-peril policy on state insurance programs. (10 minutes)

4. Rep. Castor, D-Fla.: This amendment clarifies some of the priorities for wind risk criteria generation. (10 minutes)

5. Reps. Earl Blumenauer D-Ore., or Peter Welch , D-Vt. or Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md.: This amendment would require FEMA, when updating and maintaining flood maps, to take into consideration the impacts of global warming, the potential future impacts of global climate change-related weather events, and use the best available climate science in assessing flood and storm risks. (10 minutes)

6. Reps. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., /Michael Arcuri, D-N.Y.: This amendment would create the position of National Flood Insurance Advocate in FEMA, which would: (1) transmit a comprehensive report to Congress about the major problems facing the Flood Insurance Program; and (2) report to Congress about the feasibility and effectiveness of establishing an Office of the Flood Insurance Advocate, headed by the National Flood Insurance Advocate, to assist insureds in resolving problems with FEMA. (10 minutes)

7. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss. This amendment allows multiple-peril and flood-insurance coverage of apartment buildings up to the total of the number of dwelling units times the maximum coverage limit per residential unit. (10 minutes)

8. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss: This amendment prohibits a company that sells and services flood-insurance policies from including language in its own windstorm policies that would exclude coverage of wind damage solely because flooding also contributed to the damage. The amendment also requires the contract between an insurance company and NFIP to state that the company has a fiduciary responsibility to federal taxpayers and will act in the best interests of NFIP. (10 minutes)

9. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill.: This amendment provides that no changes in flood-insurance status can go into effect until the remapping process is completed for the entire district of the Corps of Engineers affected by that map. (10 minutes)

10. Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas: This amendment provides a five-year phase-in of flood insurance premiums for low-income homeowners or renters whose primary residence is placed within a flood plain through an updating of the flood insurance program maps if the value of the home does not exceed 75 percent of the state median home value. (10 minutes)

11. Rep. Marion Berry D-Ark. : This amendment authorizes the director of FEMA to include a note on flood insurance rate maps identifying 100-year and 500-year certified levees and encouraging property owners to evaluate their risk of flooding. The amendment also clarifies that the note shall not be considered a legal requirement of participation in the national flood-insurance program. (10 minutes)

12. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn.: This amendment adds to the flood map modernization provisions of H.R. 3121 a requirement that FEMA map areas in the 100-year floodplain that would flood if not for a "levee, dam, or other man-made structure." (10 minutes)

13. Reps. Pete Stark, D-Calif. and Dan Burton R-Ind.: This amendment requires written notification by first-class mail to each property owner affected by a proposed change in flood elevations, prior to the 90-day appeal period. Notification would include an explanation of the appeal process and contact information for responsible officials.

HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
Presidential veto threats can sway some lawmakers before a vote but House Financial Services Committee spokesman Steven Adamske said Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and others would argue for the legislation. "We're going to actively work for passage of the bill," said Adamske.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has made the bill a signature issue for the Democratic majority and highlighted the issue in trips to the Gulf Coast region.

The House Rules Committee considered amendments Wednesday and approved 13 amendments the House will consider today.



© 2007 Sun Herald. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.sunherald.com

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BIG Katrina Recovery Bill on House Floor Today

by Ana Maria

Today’s the big day we’ve been waiting for. Congress will consider the bill that includes the multiple peril policy, a policy that will finally give American home and business owners ONE insurance policy for both wind and flood. No private insurance company has offered such a financial security product since the 1960’s. The Multiple Peril Insurance policy is part of H.R. 3121. When it gets to the floor, a flurry of amendments will be offered.

The easiest way to wade through them is to follow Taylor’s lead. He votes for something, then it’s good. He votes against it, then it isn’t.

Today is the final day to contact our congressional representatives. Please call now. Calling is all we have time to do to have an impact this day. Go here to find the office phone number for your congressional representative. To be really timely, please call the DC office.

When you call, please ask the congressional staff member to pass along this message.

I support H.R. 3121. It is a great way to help restore the financing of the Gulf Coast, a great way to provide financial security for all American home and business owners for whom both wind and flood damage may be a problem.

Please ask Representative (your congressional rep’s name here) to vote for H.R. 3121 today AND to vote for the amendments that Mississippi Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor votes for. Just take his lead and that will be great with me!

Thank you for listening. Have a good day!
That’s it! If your representative is a Democrat, you may tell them to vote with the Caucus recommendations. If your representative is a Republican, you may request that he or she simply follow Congressman Taylor’s lead. That will do the job.

This is a bread and butter issue for home and business owners. It is important to the entire Katrina ravaged region. It is important for the folks from Brooklyn, New York, whose home owner policies—which do NOT cover flood AND wind in one policy—are being cancelled because Big Insurance is getting out of the business. It is important for those in California who have fewer and fewer choices with homeowner insurance carriers—none of whom provide a single policy for both wind and flood.

Thank you for your ongoing support, your calls, your emails, and . . . reading my pieces.

Yes ma’am and yes sir. Today’s political hell raising involves burning up those phone lines! Today’s the day we see the results of our political hell raising throughout the past few months. May we have a great deal to celebrate by the evening!




Type the rest of the blog here.
© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Breaking News: American Bankers Association Supports Muliple Peril Insurance Policy (H.R. 3121)

From: ABA [mailto:govtrelations@aba.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11:22 AM
To: Martin, Brian (Congressman Gene Taylor's Policy Director)
Subject: Support for H.R. 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act

Date: September 26, 2007
To: Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

From: Floyd Stoner, Executive Director, Congressional Relations & Public Policy, ABA

Re: Support for H.R. 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007

I am writing on behalf of the members of the American Bankers Association (ABA) to express our support for H.R. 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007, scheduled to be considered by the full House later this week.

Since 1968, nearly 20,000 communities across the United States and its territories have participated in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by adopting and enforcing floodplain management ordinances to reduce future flood damage. In exchange, the NFIP makes federally backed flood insurance available to homeowners, renters, and business owners in these communities.

Losses from three large hurricanes (Katrina, Rita, and Wilma) in 2005 have left the NFIP more than $23 billion in debt to the Treasury. There is no way that the NFIP can reasonably repay this debt and provide payment for future losses under the current rate structure. The likelihood of additional flood events and resulting claims against the program make reforms vital.

This legislation would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to update the flood maps, and it would provide a phase-in of actuarial rates for commercial properties and non-primary residences. ABA supports these efforts as being necessary to sustain the program over the long term.

H.R. 3121 also would increase the penalties for non-compliance in placing flood insurance, from $350 per violation to $2000 per violation. We are pleased that the legislation would provide a "safe harbor" for an institution which is in non-compliance due to circumstances beyond its control (such as outdated mapping by FEMA). We also are pleased that the legislation would provide institutions with an opportunity to correct non-compliance before a penalty is assessed and place a reasonable limit for total penalties per institution/per year.

We urge you to support this important legislation.

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Bush, Barbour’s Katrina Housing Plans Smell Fishy

by Ana Maria

Just over a week ago, my tiny hometown learned of a secret Bush government plan to “wall and haul” the place. In conjunction with Mississippi’s Republican Governor Haley Barbour, the U.S. Corps of Engineers has been plotting and scheming to erect a 40-foot seawall along the beach and to buy up private property it deemed in the flood zone. This birthed my “wall and haul” phrase. You know, wall us up, haul us out.

My parents’ home has never been in a designated flood zone. Katrina is the only time our home had ever gotten so much as a drop of water. Now Bush’s government wants to buy up the family home and the surrounding area. We’re several miles from the Jordan River or the beach. And where will my mother and many others go? She’s lived in this town since 1953. That’s 54 years. How do you replace the safety and comfort, security, and friendships built up over that many decades? You don’t.

Allegedly, the property purchase, including my own mother’s home where she has lived for the last 45 years, is voluntary.

Bush’s Corps of Engineers and its willing accomplices in the Barbour government say the property purchase is voluntary. To believe this requires them to have credibility, which is nowhere to be found.

As I look around at several of Bush and Barbour’s different housing plans, this appears more of a shell game being played with American families and businesses and the money needed to rebuild our homes, our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Some two years since Katrina demolished the area’s homes and businesses, we still have a housing crisis of epidemic proportions.

". . . the Institute for Southern Studies documented in [its] recent report Blueprint for Gulf Renewal, there's still a serious post-Katrina housing crisis on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Homeowners found the [Mississippi Development Authority]'s grant application process to be difficult and time-consuming, and many are still waiting for checks. In the meantime, there are few affordable rental units available in the region, another barrier facing internally displaced persons trying to exercise their right of return.”
Barbour To Skim Off Housing Money
Rather than cutting out the bureaucratic BS to get the appropriated funding to those who need it here on Mississippi Gulf Coast, Governor Haley Barbour is abandoning his responsibilities to blockade our state’s road home. Barbour, Bush, and their buddies in Big Insurance are Allies in Abandonment Alley.

Barbour proposed diverting $600 million from Katrina funds dedicated for low-income housing here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Barbour wants to use housing funds to rebuild the Port of Gulfport.

As if we’ve got all the housing we can stand down here and boy, oh boy, we better find something to do with that $600 million or Bush will take it back to pay for the better part of a single day’s worth of what it’s costing this nation for Bush’s unnecessary ‘adventure’ in Iraq—using Mississippi military men and women, I might add.

As I look around at the areas with which I’m personally most familiar—a good 50 mile stretch along beach front properties along the state’s Gulf Coast from Waveland straight through Biloxi, I’m not seeing much rebuilding of those beautiful old homes . . . or the beach front businesses for that matter.

See, if those folks aren’t building, that’s an important indicator that the financing isn’t here for many other things either. With the financing comes the construction jobs, which would be in abundance—but only if the financing were here. With construction jobs would come all manner of businesses to provide the goods and services those workers and their families would need. Businesses from plumbing to appliance to office supply stores to support the construction of those homes and business buildings. Businesses like toy stores and movie theaters, bakeries and department stores that families and communities need.

Of course, from architects to painters and electricians to roofers, these construction industry workers would need places for their families to live. Their children would need schools to attend, preferably with running water available like the rest of the U.S.

Alas, housing along the Mississippi Gulf Coast is scarce whether affordable or not. It just doesn’t exist much less in abundance, and what is available isn’t at the pre-Katrina prices. Everything is more expensive, though the wages have not risen.

Here’s the thing, if the solidly middle class cannot afford to rebuild their homes and businesses, that is a strong indicator that neither can those not yet in the middle class economic bracket. Purely and simply, the reason for this economic development stagnation is the lack of funding, money, moolah.

So that $600 million that Barbour wants to divert from housing? What a joke! We could sure use that money to build housing for folks to live in, move out of their FEMA trailers, quit bunking with family and friends, and move back here from where ever they may be residing outside of the area. You know, use it to help those for whom it was intended to help.

Breaking Down Barbour’s Housing Dollars
The Mississippi Center for Justice wrote a startling analysis of Barbour use of our tax money that is supposed to be alleviating our post-Katrina housing crunch.
Mississippi’s Katrina recovery programs have been characterized by disregard for the
needs of its most vulnerable citizens. Over $3 billion of the $5.4 billion Congress gave
Mississippi has been granted waivers from the requirement to serve the needs of low
and moderate income residents. Only $1 billion has been devoted to programs that
serve these same residents. (1) Two years later, less than $100 million from those
programs has been paid out. (2)

With over 17,000 households (close to 50,000 persons) still in FEMA trailers and others
doubled up with relatives or friends, Mississippi’s housing recovery is far from complete
two years after Hurricane Katrina. (3) Last week, however, Governor Haley Barbour
proposed to divert $600 million of housing recovery funds to pump into the expansion of
the State Port at Gulfport, a commercial maritime harbor that earned half its revenue
from casino leases prior to the storm. (4) This makes a mockery of the Governor’s
Commission’s recommendation to place a priority in every housing program upon
serving the needs of lower income storm victims. (5)
[Click here for endnotes.]
Only $100 million? Based on the totality of what had been appropriated originally, $100 million is less than 2%!!?# That is poppycock. And this is yet another great example of a failure of leadership aggressively pursuing every avenue possible to bring about a quick and vibrant recovery along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Are the White House, Big Insurance, and Barbour deliberately starving us all so that they can turn this beach front property into their personal financial playground years down the road?!

The picture seems to be coming in clearly when it comes to housing and rebuilding the Mississippi Gulf Coast, something sure smells fishy, and it isn’t coming from the Gulf.

© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Katrina victims ask Shelby for help

Housing bill mainly aimed at Louisiana
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
By SEAN REILLY
Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON -- After huddling with frustrated south Mobile County residents Tuesday morning, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby pressed federal officials to tackle local housing needs left over from Hurricane Katrina, but did not endorse residents' plea for up to $400 million in additional aid.

Rather than provide more money, lawmakers may need to make sure that funding already proposed is "allocated fairly," Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, said after a Senate banking committee hearing on a bill aimed at assuring that affordable housing lost to Katrina is replaced. Shelby is the panel's top Republican.

The bill is largely geared toward Louisiana. Before the hearing, Shelby heard privately from the group of some 11 activists and residents of Coden and other unincorporated parts of the county.

About 2,000 people from those areas are still living in government-furnished campers, a year after environmental tests registered dangerous level of indoor formaldehyde, Zack Carter, an organizer with the Montgomery-based citizens' group, Alabama Arise, said. But the senator would not commit to trying to amend the recovery act by adding $200 million to $400 million, according to Carter.

"It wasn't a 'no,' so that's something," Carter said. Instead, Carter said, a second meeting is planned this Friday. Another option would be to add the money to a supplemental spending bill, he said.

During the hearing, Shelby did prod administrators with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, on whether they had done enough for the south end of the county. "A lot of people in those areas that were heavily impacted -- their needs have not been addressed," he said.

In response, Robert Duncan, a HUD senior project manager, said the state has been allotted about $24 million for housing needs. Of that amount, only $4 million has so far been spent, Duncan said.

That disclosure appeared to surprise Shelby, who said afterward that he would follow up. Even if all available money is used, "it's going to take much more than what is there at this point," said Stephenie Bosarge, a Coden bookkeeper.

As the Press-Register has previously reported, however, the major bottleneck is at the county level, where 1,166 applications for aid are still pending. County officials hope to begin getting rebuilding help to people by year's end, Annette McGrady, a consultant working on the issue, said Tuesday.

The banking committee has not announced a date to proceed with the bill. The measure's lead sponsor is the panel's chairman, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. Dodd, who is running for president, did not attend Tuesday's hearing.

In an e-mail, spokesman Marvin Fast attributed the senator's absence to an unspecified scheduling conflict. Dodd "intends to continue to work to advance this legislation ... ," Fast said.

Alabama Press-Register originally published this article here.
© 2007 Press-Register
© 2007 al.com All Rights Reserved.


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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

American Soldiers: Caught in the Crosshairs of Iraq and Katrina

by Ana Maria

Regardless of our personal perspective on the Iraq occupation, Americans universally support the soldiers, want them to be safe, and want their return home to be joyous and welcoming. For those soldiers inside Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana whose homes Hurricane Katrina demolished or substantially destroyed, they face the double whammy of fighting in Iraq while their families are here fighting Big Insurance who often refuses to pay for wind-related damages for which premiums have been faithfully paid.

Today’s piece is devoted to those homeowners and business owners who are also members of our military, members who George W. Bush sent to his war in Iraq and whose families have been through Katrina and the insurance insanity that has befallen them since the storm’s 135 mph winds subsided.

After Katrina, many an insurance corporate titan implemented aggressive claims adjustment policies that ended up guaranteeing the financial ruin of American homeowners and business owners. Along with police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses caught in this nightmare were our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

George W. Bush could have used the power of the bully pulpit to twist the arms of his CEO buddies in the insurance industry to do the morally correct thing and pay on the wind-related damages to every one of its policyholders’ homes and businesses be they soldiers, retired chief petty officers, school teachers, or police officers. However, he has not.

Instead, George W. Bush has failed to protect American soldiers from the ravages of the policies that his Big Insurance buddies implemented, policies that failed to deliver on the wind policies included in the homeowner policies these soldiers had for their homes.

What I’d like to hear from a president that cared is something like the following.

My fellow Americans, I come before you today to express my enormous distress at the pain and suffering that has befallen many families and businesses inside the Katrina-ravaged region. Upon learning of the policies and procedures that Big Insurance has implemented that guts the financial security upon which these families and businesses depend to get back on their feet quickly and return to their lives, I am putting the full weight of the White House to back a legislative initiative that will protect America’s financial security for every family and business: the Multiple Peril Insurance policy.

This consolidates into one insurance policy protection for both flood and wind. Nowhere in this great nation of ours can we purchase such a policy. Nowhere. In the 60’s, private insurance companies chose to get out of the flood insurance business. Given this void, Congress passed the flood insurance act to protect the financial security of American families and businesses from flood damage. Since 1968, American families have had this protection.

Today, Big Insurance is demonstrating a callous disregard to Americans everywhere—including our nation’s soldiers who are protecting this country. These soldiers voluntarily give up their freedom, liberty, and sometimes their lives in service to this country.
Rather than looking out for the financial security of policyholders, Big Insurance is looking out for its own financial security and doing so wrongly on the backs of its policyholders--policyholders who are teachers and doctors, retired seniors and American soldiers. These soldiers’ selflessness for the love of country should be the model for all citizens. They give their lives to protect us. We must do what we must to protect them. In so doing, we also protect the rest of America.

Private insurance is effectively no longer providing wind coverage for American families and businesses. Congress is again taking the bold step to provide this needed financial security. Mississippi Congressman Gene Taylor, who lost his home in Katrina and who had to sue his insurance company to get a settlement, has drafted this good bill. The White House is putting its full weight behind the measure because it protects America’s home and business owners.

Thank you.

Wouldn’t that be something to hear?! To know that we had a White House that cared about the hundreds of millions of little people that make up this nation whether we are teachers or nurses or active or retired military officers?

Well, having a White House that cares about the hundreds of millions of little people that make up this nation is something we can work toward. Today, we have the great opportunity to help take out of the insurance crosshairs both active and retired military. Simultaneously, we will be helping the rest of the Katrina-ravaged residents along the Louisiana-Mississippi-Alabama Gulf Coast AND the rest of the nation’s 55% that live within 50 miles of the nation’s beautiful coastline.

Incorporating multiple peril coverage into the federal flood insurance policy is within reach of passing the entire House of Representatives when the legislation goes for a vote this Thursday, September 27th.

Today’s political hell raising activity is specifically dedicated to helping to ease the pain of every soldier impacted by both Iraq and Katrina. Supporting and protecting the troops means providing the armor to keep them safe overseas AND providing these soldiers with the insurance armor that will help keep their families protected against the greedy winds of Big Insurance. ;)

Soooooo, let’s call and email our congressional representatives. Yes, if you’ve already called, then email. If you’ve already emailed, then call. The more, the merrier. On that note, contact two other people and convince them to do the same. Again, the more, the merrier.

Ending what many of us term a nightmare in Iraq also means ending the nightmare that is for many a soldier the ongoing nightmare that is Big Insurance. For soldiers, being caught in the cross hairs of Iraq and Katrina can begin to end today with calls and emails to pass this important legislation.


© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Insurance bill up for vote

Taylor likes chances of proposal to add wind to flood policies

Posted on Tue, Sep. 25, 2007
By MARIA RECIO
SUN HERALD WASHINGTON BUREAU


WASHINGTON --
The House is expected to vote Thursday on expanding federal flood insurance to include wind damage, a landmark change brought on by the insurance industry response to Hurricane Katrina.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, who lost his home in Katrina, pushed for the "multi-peril" provision to the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007, after seeing constituents get little or no payments for privately insured wind damage and full coverage from the federal flood program. Taylor sued his insurer and settled earlier this year.

After pushing a bill for over two years, an invigorated Taylor is looking forward to the upcoming vote. "I'm excited about it," he said. "I'm not taking anything for granted. We've got almost every Democrat and some Republicans on the Gulf Coast from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It should be the necessary margin."

The legislation has a powerful advocate in the House: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who made the issue a personal promise to the South Mississippi communities in visits to the region on Katrina anniversaries in August 2006 and last month.

Having the speaker's support "is huge," said Taylor. "She's been an incredibly huge help."

Pelosi lobbied or "whipped" Democrats when the bill was before the House Financial Services Committee in July. "She went to wavering Democrats," said Taylor, "and that's what it's going to take."

Pelosi is expected to push the issue again Wednesday at the weekly Democratic Caucus meeting.

"The bill has widespread support," said Steven Adamske, spokesman for the House Financial Services Committee. "We feel good about where this bill is positioned."

Under the bill, approved by the financial services committee 38-29 in July, policyholders of the flood insurance program would be able to purchase wind insurance policies, although wind coverage would be not available as a stand-alone policy.

The multiple-peril residential policy limit would be set at $500,000 for the structure and $150,000 for contents. The bill increases the maximum coverage for flood insurance policies from $250,000 to $335,000 for residences. The program would be paid for from actuarially determined premiums.

Opponents of the bill, including insurers and some public interest groups, say that the flood insurance program is essentially bankrupt and that adding another liability would eventually hit the taxpayers. The flood insurance program had to borrow $17.5 billion more than it took in because of Katrina and Rita claims.

"We don't think this is the time to expand the flood insurance program, " said Don Griffin, a vice president of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. "You don't know how many people will buy the program, so you don't know how to price it."

Dennis Kelly, spokesman for the American Insurance Association, said, "We do not want to see any mechanisms that displace the private market."

But Taylor and other bill supporters point to the role the states have had to take, creating so-called "wind pools" in states such as Mississippi and Florida to provide coverage to coastal residents after insurers stopped writing policies.

Taylor said he is bracing for an insurance industry-backed battle on the House floor. "I expect a very contentious fight," he said.

Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007
Here are the key features of H.R. 3121:

• Increases the amount FEMA can raise policy rates in any given year from 10 percent to 15 percent.

• Extends multiple-peril policies for wind damage where local governments agree to adopt and enforce building codes and standards designed to minimize wind damage.

• Allows any community participating in the flood insurance program to opt in to the multiple-peril option. The multiple-peril residential-policy limit is $500,000 for the structure and $150,000 for contents. Nonresidential properties could be covered to $1 million for structure and $750,000 for contents and business interruption.

• Increases the maximum coverage limits for flood insurance policies. New coverage limits would be $335,000 for residences, $135,000 for residential contents, and $670,000 for businesses and churches.

• Phases in actuarial rates for vacation homes and nonresidential properties beginning Jan. 1, 2011.

HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE


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© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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