WASHINGTON--Florida's two senators introduced five pieces oflegislation today they described as "comprehensively" addressingissues related to national hurricane preparedness.

The bills sponsored by Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson andRepublican Sen. Mel Martinez deal with ways to improve preparednessand response, reinsurance reform, tax credits for mitigation, andthe potential for developing a national catastrophe fund.

Many of them were introduced last year but did not create muchreaction in Congress. This year, the lawmakers said, Sen. ChrisDodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, haspromised the bills will get substantial scrutiny, starting with ahearing on hurricane-related issues April 11.

At the same time, Sen. Nelson, Florida's senior senator, madeclear he did not want the legislative package to be intertwinedwith the efforts in Congress by some legislators to repeal theMcCarran-Ferguson Act and insurers' limited antitrustexemption.

"I don't want to get [these bills] wound around that axle," Sen.Nelson said, contending that insurers "would fight to the death" toretain the law. "I hope our efforts don't get involved [with thebattle] over McCarran-Ferguson," he said.

At the press conference Sens. Nelson and Martinez also said theyare drafting legislation that would create a regional catastrophefund that they hope would allow the federal government to provideincentives for states to join for that purpose.

They mentioned that their efforts to mitigate the cost ofhomeowners' insurance for Florida residents will include trying toreform and expand the National Flood Insurance Program.

The reason for the blizzard of legislation initiatives, the twoadmitted, is that homeowners' insurance in Florida is becomingunaffordable, and they want to create a debate leading tolegislation that would make hurricane and tornado mitigationefforts a national program.

"The big one is coming," Sen. Nelson said, referring to ahurricane involving losses of $50 billion or more. He said no stateor insurance company could afford to pay such losses, and thefederal government would clearly be the savior of last resort, asit is for most national disasters.