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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But he refused to commit himself to supporting the multistate fund, saying he plans on presenting his governor a wide range of proposals to deal with the problem of insurance availability in his state.

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 support within the industry.

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

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

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

The fund would actually be a state compact, and as such would bring up fears of state lawmakers giving up authority to other jurisdictions such as were expressed in the debate over the Interstate Compact set up for nationalizing the review of life insurance products.

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

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