Speaking at an emergency management summit, he details a plan he thinks Congress should consider.
By JUSTIN GEORGE
Published October 15, 2005
TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush, whose reputation grew as he responded to a domino chain of hurricanes last year, proposed creating a national catastrophe fund Friday during an emergency management summit of federal, state and local officials.
Bush has pushed for the catastrophe fund since last year, when four hurricanes devastated Florida. But the details Bush laid out Friday, and in an earlier speech this week in Tallahassee, suggest the governor is planning to take a lead role in pushing Congress to act. The last time the president's brother took such steps on the national front was Medicaid reform, which he continues to advocate regularly before Congress.
His comments Friday came during an emergency response management forum convened by Rep. Michael Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, at the Moffitt Cancer Center. The forum also let Tampa Bay emergency management directors present their disaster plans and wish lists to the area's congressional leaders.
In front of U.S. representatives worried about the next Hurricane Katrina, Bush championed a national fund to help areas rebound from wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters. To draw from the pool when disaster strikes, eligible states must create their own catastrophe funds, strengthen building codes and employ tested disaster plans, Bush said, attaching some strings he hoped would draw congressional leaders in.
Florida already has met those three requirements. Its Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which is financed by insurers under state law, helps reimburse those same insurers after major hurricanes.
"When the recovery effort languishes," Bush said, "so do people's lives."
Bush made a similar pitch Wednesday to the Tallahassee Rotary Club, where he said the catastrophe fund would allow for money to grow tax-free.
Congressional leaders at Friday's forum favored Bush's idea, though most blurred the governor's broad plan with a bill Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Crystal River, is touting.
With insurance companies dramatically curtailing coverage in Florida after a costly 2004, Brown-Waite's bill aims to limit the insurance industry's liability in a disaster to $25-billion. After that, the federal government would sell reinsurance to the insurers. Reinsurance is, in essence, an extra layer of insurance bought by insurance companies to decrease their exposure to catastrophic losses.
The bill hopes to encourage insurers to stay in disaster-prone areas such as Florida and keep premiums low after catastrophe. The fund might be paid for by insurance company assessments and federal dollars, congressional leaders said.
"It's not just Florida that is interested in a . . . fund," Brown-Waite said, referring to flash floods surprising New Jersey this week. "Every single member of Congress now recognizes it's not just a Florida hurricane issue or a California earthquake issue."
But Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, who supports the bill, said it might be a tough sell in states that don't experience many natural disasters.
Later, in an interview, he said, "this is the time to push. It'd be nice to have the president's support."
The idea, at least, has caught on with the younger Bush, who called disaster planning his most important job.
"I didn't realize this was going to be my No. 1 priority in life," he said, "but it is."
Bush also said he thought it likely the Legislature may require the Florida Panhandle, which has been exempted from the state's strongest building code requirements, to comply.
On Friday, Bush also heard local emergency managers detail their disaster plans and give state and federal officials a wish-list of legislation and resources they need to do their jobs.
Hillsborough County emergency manager Larry Gispert said school districts need more money to build storm-safe shelters.
Pinellas County asked state officials to oppose a bill to make local governments house sexual offenders and predators in a storm shelter separate from the general population. Emergency management director Gary Vickers said the Department of Corrections or law enforcement agencies should do the job.
Legislation should require school districts to have generators and allow pets in some storm shelters, Vickers said.
The home health care community should take more responsibility registering "special needs" residents, who need help during an evacuation, he said.
Pasco County has no place to shelter thousands of evacuees long term if they were displaced by a storm, emergency management director Jim Martin said.
East-west evacuation routes out of Pasco, such as state roads 50 and 52, are not adequate, he added.
Governments should reconsider letting residents live in mobile homes because they don't meet the state building code, Hernando County emergency management director Thomas Leo said.
When federal officials got to speak, some touched on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's role. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, noted that local officials who fear they won't get proper reimbursement from FEMA have caused delays in disaster response. Local governments should be able to do whatever needs to be done without that worry, he said.
Times staff writers Steve Bousquet and Joni James contributed to this report.
