John Shaw: “I, along with my colleague Ms. Ginny Brown- Waite, have introduced the Homeowners Insurance Protection Act. The bill…”

“I, along with my colleague Ms. Ginny Brown- Waite, have introduced the Homeowners Insurance Protection Act. The bill provides financial protection to all Americans that live in natural catastrophe-prone areas through a three-layered approach. Our goal is to keep homeowners' insurance premiums at affordable rates. This program would assure that when a big one hits, the responsibility for insured losses is with insurance companies and not with the bailouts from the Federal Government, such as FEMA. First, this bill would create the Federal Catastrophe Fund, to be known as the Hurricane and Earthquake Loss Protection Fund, or the HELP Fund. Second, each State that chooses to participate in this voluntary program must establish a State Catastrophe Fund, which we call the CAT Fund, similar to that which we have in Florida. Third, the State CAT fund then purchases reinsurance from the Federal HELP fund. The HELP fund is thus financed directly by insurance premiums and not by taxpayer dollars. We live in a diverse nation facing diverse natural catastrophes. This bill encourages States to take responsibility for their residents and gives the States the discretion of insuring for their own catastrophic needs. I yield to the chairman.”