MIAMI–A proposed multistate catastrophic fund that will be thesubject of a National Association of Insurance Commissionersmeeting next month received less than unanimous support fromregulators from the Southeast attending an NAIC meeting here.

At this point, as the NAIC confers on catastrophic risk, thecommissioners have generally taken a wait and see attitude on themultistate notion.

The multistate fund concept is part of an overall plan for anational program to support insurers against mega-catastrophelosses being examined at both federal and state levels.

The NAIC is sponsoring a conference next month in Atlanta atwhich some of the details of the new multistate proposal will beworked out for eventual approval by state legislative bodies.

North Carolina Commissioner Jim Long said the proposal willlikely see support with lawmakers in his state.

“After all, the president pro tem of the Senate is from theBarrier Islands,” he said. But he doesn't see any approval untilthe 2009 session of the legislature.

Alabama Commissioner Walter Bell, who also serves as NAICpresident, said the time is ripe for a more innovative approach tospreading the risk of mega-catastrophes, such as those that hit theGulf Coast states in 2005.

But he refused to commit himself to supporting the multistatefund, saying he plans on presenting his governor a wide range ofproposals to deal with the problem of insurance availability in hisstate.

Congress is currently exploring a national catastrophe fund,first proposed by Florida Commissioner Kevin McCarty last year,which has been met with varying degrees of hostility and supportwithin the industry.

The multistate fund would represent the second layer of statefunds, with the federal level the third, and would be a vehicle forthose states unwilling to go it alone.

Louisiana Commissioner James Donelon said the multistate fundwould be a “hard sell” in his state.

“We have the three-year protection for homeowners fromnonrenewal and we don't know how that would stand up if we were insuch a fund,” he said.

The fund would actually be a state compact, and as such wouldbring up fears of state lawmakers giving up authority to otherjurisdictions such as were expressed in the debate over theInterstate Compact set up for nationalizing the review of lifeinsurance products.

Mr. Donelon said the only way he could see such a compactapproved in his state is if the national fund appears likely to beapproved.