By Billy House
Media General News Service
Published: May 7, 2008

WASHINGTON - A Senate bill to renew the national flood insurance program is expected to reach a final vote this week, but not before lawmakers from Florida and other Gulf Coast states try to rewrite it.

As now drafted, the bill does not allow flood insurance customers an option of also buying wind coverage, unlike a version passed by the House last year over White House protests that it would be “fiscally irresponsible” to do so.

Even so, lawmakers from Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida are expected to press for votes in the Senate Wednesday (May 7) or Thursday on amendments to add the wind insurance to the Senate’s bill, as well.

“As the 2008 hurricane season approaches, I believe we should not miss this opportunity to address the problem,” said GOP Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, referring to what he described as a lack of availability of affordable wind insurance for those living near the nation’s coast lines.

Meanwhile, Florida’s two senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez, are considering whether to offer a separate amendment to create a national catastrophic fund to help lower home insurance costs in areas hit by natural disasters, such as hurricanes.

Nelson already co-sponsors a bill to create a CatFund with a fellow Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, which mirrors legislation already passed in the U.S. House.
Any changes in the national flood program could have an impact on Florida more than any other state.

The program includes 2.1 million policyholders in Florida - about 41 percent of its existing 5 million policy holders nationally.