NU Online News Service, June 5, 3:16 p.m.EDT

A call by Florida's governor to create a federalcatastrophe-wind fund probably amounts to nothing more than wishfulthinking, as Congress shows no inclination to pass suchlegislation, a state-association director says.

Florida Governor Rick Scott, during a press conference markingthe start of hurricane season on June 1, said nationalizingwindstorm coverage in a way similar to flood coverage would makesense for Floridians who fear losing their windstorm coverage,according to a report in the Palm Beach Post. Scott,speaking at the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County, wasjoined by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; CraigFugate, the federal emergency management director; and Bill Read,theHurricaneCenter's outgoing director, the paper reported.

Responding to Scott's comments, Sam Miller, executive vicepresident for the Florida Insurance Council, says while the ideasounds interesting, there is a split in the association'smembership over whether the plan would be a good idea or not.

“Some of our companies think it is a good idea and some of themprobably don't,” says Miller. “It is something we [as a state] havealways looked at and always wanted to be in.”

However, the reality is that there is no political will at thefederal level to do it, he says.

“There isn't a whole lot of expectation that this is anythingCongress is going to do,” says Miller. “They are struggling to re-authorize the National Flood InsuranceProgram.”

Miller notes that Florida is seeking answers to what is clearlya potentially tremendous exposure to hurricane risk.

“We have a huge hurricane risk down here and we're trying to beprepared for the nightmare storm that could cause $50 to $75billion in losses and it is more than our system can accommodateright now,” says Miller, referring to the state's homeowner insurerof last resort, Citizens, which is also the largest homeownersinsurer in the state with more than 25 percent of the market.

Miller says any insurance plan that could act as an additionalinsurer to the state “would be very important to Florida.”

However, he says attempts at creating such a catastrophe programhave been tried for 20 years and they have never gained traction in Congress.

Miller notes, “I don't think there is a whole lot of expectationthat anything like that would be considered soon.”

He notes that the Florida Insurance Council is a stateassociation and does not get involved in federal issues, so it hastaken no official position regarding a federal catastropheplan.

However, “anything that would help Florida, that is more likelythan any other state to face a $75 billion event, get through thatevent, it is something we would want to explore.”

He adds, “We have been lucky in that we have not had a hurricanestrike for six years. But sooner or later, our luck is going to runout.”

Miller says, “Gov. Scott is very concerned about what Floridacould face one day and concerned about the size of CitizensProperty and [our Hurricane Catastrophe] fund and he is looking tohelp Florida and make our catastrophe fund stronger.”