HM 1371

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to require the director of the Federal Emergency
4	Management Agency to study the advisability and
5	feasibility of establishing a National Residential
6	Windstorm Insurance Program designed to provide windstorm
7	insurance to residential property owners unable to obtain
8	coverage in the private market.
9
10	WHEREAS, the United States has been hit by 26 windstorm
11	events, including hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, and
12	other windstorms, that have individually caused in excess of $1
13	billion each in property damage since 1983, and
14	WHEREAS, together these storms caused an estimated $155
15	billion in property damage across 33 states, Puerto Rico, and
16	the United States Virgin Islands, according to the National
17	Climactic Data Center, and
18	WHEREAS, in 2004, the State of Florida alone was hit by
19	four hurricanes in just 2 months, causing an estimated $41
20	billion in property damage, and
21	WHEREAS, insurance protection against windstorm damage has
22	been difficult to obtain at reasonable premium rates for many
23	residents of the United States and coastal states in particular,
24	and
25	WHEREAS, private-sector insurance protection against
26	property damages caused by the peril of wind is generally
27	excluded under standard homeowners' insurance policies sold in
28	seven states along the Gulf and Atlantic Coast States, the
29	Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, and property and casualty
30	insurers are withdrawing underwriting capacity from the market
31	by refusing to issue new policies or renew existing policies or
32	by increasing premiums to unaffordable levels, and
33	WHEREAS, the increasing cost of windstorm insurance
34	premiums presents a significant impediment to home ownership for
35	many Americans, and
36	WHEREAS, new and innovative programs are required to
37	provide a limited program of property insurance protection from
38	windstorm, NOW, THEREFORE,
39
40	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
41
42	That the Congress of the United States is urged to require
43	the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to study
44	the advisability and feasibility of establishing a National
45	Residential Windstorm Insurance Program designed to provide
46	windstorm insurance to residential property owners unable to
47	obtain coverage in the private market.
48	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
49	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
50	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
51	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
52	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.