James Lee Witt (former head of FEMA under Clinton) and James Loy (Deputy Secretary of DHS under Bush), are calling for a privately funded national catastrophe fund “that is part of a comprehensive, integrated program will help address insurance affordability and expand coverage options for all homeowners while protecting taxpayers from the seemingly endless need to provide emergency relief”. They are promoting the Homeowners and Taxpayers Protection Act of 2013. The essential idea is creating an insurance fund that would be dedicated to paying for recovery efforts following natural disasters. While the impetus for this private-public trust fund is Hurricane Sandy, the fund would serve all types of disasters.
This idea of creating an insurance fund to pay for relief and recovery was one of the recommendations included in the Oregon Resilience Plan as well. The question is whether a state fund, a Cascadia regional fund, or this national fund approach would best serve us. It offers an alternative to the current model in which Congress passes recovery funding following the disaster. Until Hurricane Sandy, recovery aid was passed routinely, but it is not clear of this will be the case going forward.