Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D) will schedule hearings on creation of a national catastrophe fund.  Dodd made the commitment to Florida Sen. Mel Martinez (R) during a hearing on renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). Martinez said that since the committee was dealing with TRIA, it should also put on its agenda the insurance market dislocations that have affected many coastal regions in the wake of seven major hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.

Martinez is working closely with fellow Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), on efforts to craft legislation proposing a catastrophe fund program at the federal level. “We’ve got to find a better way to spread and finance risk,” Martinez said. “I support the concept of a national catastrophe fund in order to stabilize and strengthen the insurance market and encourage proper disaster mitigation.”

Dodd said the problem of catastrophic insurance for natural disasters was separate from the terror insurance debate, but he nonetheless called the issue a “very, very important one and one that is deserving of this committee’s attention.” No dates have yet been set for hearings.

March 6, 2007