A.M. in the Morning!

Reigning in Big Insurance: A First Step

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 13:16:00 -0600

by Ana Maria Rosato

In January 2021, Congress passed the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act ("CHIRA"). The Vermont Business Journal succinctly summarized CHIRA's importance Decades of consolidation by health insurance brokers has primed the industry for abuse, allowing insurers to exert market power in order to raise premiums, restrict competition, and deny consumers choice."

CHIRA is a good FIRST step in requiring some part of the insurance industry to play by the same business rules as other businesses. There is zero reason to permit the insurance industry to continue being exempt.

Back in 2007 when I wrote this blog, I learned and revealed that the ENTIRE insurance industry was exempt from our nation's anti-trust laws. That means that insurance corporations are free to price gouge, collude, and other things that no other industry -- except baseball -- is allowed to do. And NO BUSINESS should be allowed to do.

This blog shared story after story of how Big Insurance -- State Farm, All State, and Nationwide as well as USAA -- deliberately betrayed their customers AND U.S. taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars. And was allowed to do so because the companies are legally allowed to be in cahoots with each other.

Congressman Gene Taylor (D-Miss) was a tremendous champion for his constituents facing financial devastation after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the entire region demolishing homes and businesses. Taylor called out insurance corporations in no uncertain terms on the floor of the U.s. House of Representatives, in the media, and at home in Mississippi.

The Insurance Journal quoted Taylor speaking at a January 2007 meeting on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in a town called Ocean Springs. Congressman Taylor described what he believed happened specifically because the insurance companies are allowed to collude. I think they called one another and said ‘if you don’t pay, we won’t pay.”

It is imperative to bring the insurance industry under the same anti-trust laws as every other businesses are required to do. My 2007 blog -- A.M. in the Morning! -- is a cautionary tale of what goes wrong when an industry fails to play by the same rules as other businesss.

© 2022 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved. Return to A.M. in the Morning! Home

Until further notice . . .

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:57:00 -0600

by Ana Maria Rosato

I suppose I should have posted this long ago. This blog is on hiatus until further notice. I am still very active in working on behalf of home and business owners inside KatrinaLand to achieve insurance reform that we need. Since leaving the blogosphere, I have learned that our insurance woes are felt from the Texas coast through the Florida panhandle down to Miami up to the Carolinas and the Cape Cod and, get this, to Long Island and the Jersey Shore!

Sheesh! We have a lot of company and this is truly a national problem requiring a federal government solution.

Recently, I joined the congressional staff of Rep. Gene Taylor as his Communications Director working exclusively on his Multiple Peril Insurance legislation. In March, Congressman Taylor launched a website dedicated entirely to this issue. I am honored to work with Congressman Taylor and his professional staff all of whom are tireless in their pursuit to ensure that justice comes to Katrina Land and American families throughout coastal America.

© 2008 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Port? Jobs? Housing? The Chicken, the Egg, and Scarcity Mentality . . . Again

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:33:00 -0600

by Ana Maria Rosato

Along with the blazing hot sun here along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the debate over whether to fund lower income housing or to fund the repair and expansion of the local port has been heating up like nobody’s business.

There’s something fundamentally wrong, though with the way that this debate has been framed. It smacks of the scarcity mentality, and I myself have fallen prey to it. Whether to provide funding for housing or for job creation falsely pits against each other two important aspects of rebuilding our Gulf Coast community. We need both housing and jobs. The truth is we need the port to be rebuilt. We need the good paying jobs with good benefits that the port itself can provide. And, we need those jobs. now. We also need the spin off businesses that come from rebuilding and reopening a robust port. Besides, the port is part of the economic engine not only for the Mississippi Gulf Coast but also for the entire state of Mississippi. Housing advocates may ask this question.

What’s the point of investing in the port if the workers needed to construct it then to operate it have no place to live because housing is scarce?

Port advocates may ask this one.

What’s the point of having plenty of housing for anyone who wishes to live here if the economy is so anemic that good paying jobs with benefits are few and far between?

Chicken, egg, chicken, egg. It's still the same old scarcity argument.

Now, we’re not the only area in the nation that grapples with the issues of economic and housing development.Out in Silicon Valley, Calif., where I used to live, housing—particularly affordable housing—remains a constant need. South of San Jose, the tenth largest city in the nation, remains a large and undeveloped area called Coyote Valley.

Plenty of plans over the years have created what will surely be one of the most beautifully planned areas in the nation. State of the art public transportation corridors with neighborhood parks, grocery shopping, and heath care offices nestled around various housing configurations—condos, apartments, large/small single family homes, and the like.

Developing this fabulous community is intended to provide plenty of much needed housing with nearby jobs all of which will offload traffic from the rest of the horrifically congested area.

The development trigger for Coyote Valley? Jobs. Thousands of jobs. How can businesses build if its going to require its employees to travel two or more hours round trip EVERY DAY. So round and round the discussion continues. Jobs, housing, jobs, housing. Meanwhile improving the area’s housing situation remains a distant mirage, and traffic continues to clog every artery in the area anyway.

It’s the age-old “chicken or the egg” argument.

But here along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we can’t afford to wait years for either our jobs or housing needs to be resolved.

We can choose to advocate for both, and we can do so vociferously. Leaders on each side of these important post-Katrina rebuilding efforts can and should push for both simultaneously. They can embrace the other side while advocating their own position.

Port advocates can say, “We need the port funding. This is an important economic recovery issue for the Gulf Coast business community and the families depending on the port for jobs. Of course, we also need the housing crisis to be solved NOW. Where are our workers going to house themselves and their families? We can take care of our families’ job and housing needs. Let’s do both together.”

Housing advocates can say, “We the housing funding for low income and rental housing here along the Gulf Coast. Of course, those families that want to return to living here will also need good paying jobs with benefits. Where will these families find work? Katrina devastated businesses and housing alike. Rebuilding of the port is an important part of our economic recovery. We can take care of our families’ job and housing needs. Let’s do both together.”

How powerful that would be. The animosity could begin to dissipate. We can reach across the aisle, find the common ground, and become stronger advocates for our collective recovery.

Buying into the idea that one must take precedence over the other isn’t helpful. We need the good paying jobs that the port provides and the spin off businesses that will come as a result of the construction and subsequent operation of the port.

We need affordable housing for rent and for lower income families.

We simply need both.

Anyway, isn’t ours the most wealthy, most powerful, most generous nation in the world? We can do it all. This is the United States of America.

As we act like we can do it all, as we talk in terms of expecting that we will do both simultaneously, we'll surprise ourselves at the political will and the resources that can begin to flow our way.

More dead flowers: From Florida to New York--With Love, Big Insurance

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:56:00 -0600

by Ana Maria Rosato

Last week was a banner one for homeowners all over the country. Nope, I’m not talking about the mortgage crisis which is bad enough. I’m talking about the other financial crisis that has yet to catch national attention: homeowner’s insurance policies with prices skyrocketing out of control . . . or being canceled.

Yet, property & casualty insurance costs for home and business owners have skyrocketed out of control hitting lower and middle income families with a powerful financial punch to their pocketbook whether they live inside Katrina Land or out.

In a post-Valentine’s Day gift to its homeowner customers, State Farm delivered dead flowers to its customers in Florida and New York. Yes, you read that correctly: New York. As in Long Island, New York.

Florida: State Farm Dumps Coastal Homeowners New York: State Farm defends decision to terminate LI homeowner policies This past Sunday, the Times-Picayune—a New Orleans paper—ran an article whose contents packed another heart-wrenching punch.

At Their Limit: As local homeowners insurance rates continue to rise, the elderly and others on limited incomes are fighting to keep their finances afloat

Talk with any two-income income family around here, and the fight is all the same. Skyrocketing premiums for less coverage while dropping wind coverage which forces policy holders into the expensive state government wind pool.

One friend of mine got home from work the other day to find that the family's home owner’s insurance bill increased by $500 a year—and the company is only covering fire and theft! They are expecting to learn that their state government wind insurance policy will rise, too. This is in addition to the nearly $2,000 rise in premiums last year.

The 55% of Americans who live within 50 miles of the nation's coastline need wind damage coverage on their homeowners' insurance.

Whatever is happening here inside Katrina Land--from the denial of wind-related claims to the exorbitant and extortion-like premiums to being dropped as customers without cause--will eventually spread to the rest of the nation. We'd like to spare the nation's families the incredible injustice and financial rip-off that we've experienced.

In yet another post-Valentine’s Day gift, Big Insurance delivered dead flowers to those of us living inside—or trying to return to our hometowns in—Katrina Land. The card on the dead flowers essentially read as follows:

Yo, baby: No new insurance policies & dropping you long time, loyal customers at renewal time. C' ya! - Big Insurance [Read Katrina Families, Dead Flowers, and Big Insurance]

Huh? Well, how else can Big Insurance protect tens of billions of dollars in annual profit flow to their boards of directors?! It's the only "insurance" about which these two-fisted greedy gutted goons apparently care. Remember the industry booked $108 billion in profit the year of Katrina and the year after.

By canceling homeowner policies or raising their premiums to exorbitant rates, it appears that members of the Big Insurance Brotherhood are essentially telegraphing that they want out of the wind insurance business. This is not the case.

What Big Insurance wants is to cherry pick from among homeowners those for whom it will drop coverage versus those it will require to pay almost extortion-like premiums . . . all the while employing various tactics to deny us payment on legitimate wind-related claims. Embedded in the fine print, Big Insurance inserts its "concurrent causation clause" into its contracts. In essence, this clause says that they won't pay for any wind damage if so much as a drop of water caused any damage to our property.

Clearly agents wouldn't sell very much if they actually mentioned this when making their pitch to us. From what was stated at the Insurance Reform Town Hall meeting last August here in my home town, agents didn't know about this ridiculous clause that would deprive homeowners of the very protection for which they were paying premiums in the first place. To hear this commentary on how Big Insurance kept their agents and their customers in the dark, see video below.

Congressman Gene Taylor explains in down-to-earth language the problem that this insurance "gotcha "clause creates for America’s homeowners.

To solve this horrible position that Big Insurance has placed America’s homeowners, Taylor sponsored the multiple peril insurance legislation to permit those homeowners who are eligible to purchase our nation’s flood insurance to have the option of buying wind coverage. The result is that the homeowner would have one policy for both wind and flood—something that the private insurance companies have chosen not to offer for the last 40 years.

Last September, Taylor's bill passed overwhelmingly and with bi-partisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives. When Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi became elected as Speaker of the House, she implemented the fiscally responsible PAYGO rule: pay as you go. Any legislation with a price tag attached to it must pay for itself. What this means for the multiple peril insurance legislation is that the rates for the wind insurance will pay for the costs of the coverage. Thank you, Congresswoman Pelosi for the return of fiscal responsibility! The bill went to the U.S. Senate where it now awaits action.

While the U.S. Senate wonders what to do about this mounting homeowner crisis, homeowners all over the nation are wondering what they are going to do about skyrocketing property insurance that is eating away like a cancer on their household’s budget.

What needs doing is rather straightforward. The U.S. Senate should simply listen to the two U.S. Senators from Louisiana and the one from New York who are championing this important bread-and-butter issue: Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA), David Vitter (R-LA), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY). All three support Taylor's multiple peril insurance legislation.

While many homeowners are raising hell with their individual insurance companies, we can all raise some political hell where it will do some collective good. For today’s political hell raising activity, let’s call our two U.S. Senate offices and ask them to follow the lead of Senators Landrieu, Vitter, and Schumer.

On his re-election campaign website, Congressman Gene Taylor has a unique call-to-action piece specific to this insurance crisis that is crippling his constituents' recovery inside the Katrina-ravaged region. [To watch Mississippi Gulf Coast business leaders discussing Big Insurance's negative impact on Katrina recovery, click here.]

Taylor's website requests the following.

Please, contact your two U.S. Senators. Simply ask each U.S. Senator to become a partner with us and support Insurance Reform. Specifically, ask each of your U.S. Senators to pass legislation in the U.S. Senate that is similar to what the House of Representatives passed in H.R. 3121, which reauthorized the National Flood Insurance Program and included flood insurance customers an option to have one policy for both wind and water.

The site provides a phone script to use and a link to obtain the phone numbers of our two U.S. Senators.

Taylor also provides a link through which to share the phone script page with friends and family throughout the nation. Good stuff.

Taylor's campaign website also hosts a fantastic compilation of news articles, editorials, and videos on how insurance reform is critical to Katrina families' ability to rebuild their homes and communities and how the homeowner insurance crisis continues to spread throughout the nation's coastal states. Click here for his Insurance Reform page.

From sea to shining sea, Big Insurance is dropping coverage, dropping customers, and skyrocketing premiums. Reading through all the articles on Taylor's campaign website makes us realize that the homeowner crisis is beyond just that of the current mortgage crisis. We can begin to solve the homeowner insurance crisis through letting our fingers do the walking and our mouths do the talking to our Senators. We did not create this crisis. Solving it, though, rests in our hands

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About ToxicTrailers.com

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:15:00 -0600

ToxicTrailers.com is dedicated to providing information about formaldehyde poisoning in FEMA trailers and RVs sold to the general public. Eighty eight percent of FEMA trailers tested by Sierra Club were over safe limits for formaldehyde, and EPA tests showed average levels three times over the limit. Please e-mail stories@toxictrailers.com if you think you are having problems with formaldehyde.

For more information, click here.

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Baria's insurance bills getting chilly reception in Jackson

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:10:00 -0600

By Dwayne Bremer
Feb 15, 2008

One of state Sen. David Baria's major campaign pledges was to help reform the way Mississippi conducts business with insurance companies.
Upon taking office in January, Baria promptly introduced seven bills which he said would help reform the system.
Unfortunately, there is now a very strong chance none of his bills will even make it to the Senate floor for consideration, he said.

Baria said Friday he was told by Insurance Committee Chairman Eugene Clark his bills will not make it out of the committee stage--which has a deadline of Tuesday for presenting bills to the full Senate.

If a bill is not submitted by the deadline, then it cannot be reviewed again until the next term in 2009.

"It's very frustrating," Baria said. "It is two and a half years after Katrina. The people on the Gulf Coast are suffering with the insurance situation. I think another year of waiting will only prolong the suffering."

Baria said there is nothing in all of his bills which will in any way adversely affect the rest of the home-owners in the state. In fact, the bills will potentially help all Mississippi home owners, he said.

Some of Baria's ideas include giving credits or better rates for homes which are constructed with techniques which reduce the amount of potential loss; putting the burden of proof on the insurer; defining certain concurrent causation exclusions as unfair; disallowing the commissioner of insurance from receiving "gifts" from insurance companies; setting limits on the reasons for cancellation; requiring explanations of claim denials; and requiring that insurance companies cannot deny coverage on the basis of credit reports.

One of the concurrent causation exclusions Baria said he is fighting hard to eliminate is an exclusion policy which allows for insurance companies to be exempt from coverage when wind causes damage which in turn results in rain water damage, but the home also has surge damage.

Baria said he has garnered a lot of support from his Democratic colleagues in the Senate.

"They are very receptive," he said. "They want to help the Coast. They would like to have a chance to vote on these issues."

Baria said Clark, a Republican from Hollindale told him Thursday that the reason why the bills are not being brought from committee is because Clark said he is new to insurance issues and he wanted more time to study the situation. Baria said the people of the Gulf Coast are tired of waiting.

"My folks cannot wait any longer, it's been two years," he said.

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Katrina Families, Dead Flowers, and Big Insurance

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:34:00 -0600

by Ana Maria Rosato

The day after Valentine's, Big Insurance delivered Katrina's families a bunch of dead roses. Big Insurance announced that it is refusing to sell us new homeowner policies here inside Mississippi's Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast region. Adding insult to injury, Big Insurance also informed us that it might not renew wind policies of its loyal customers either. The equivalent of more dead flowers.

Next up in this string of bad news, we learned that the government's wind pool insurance —the state's insurer of last resort—is increasing the rates for those customers. Yes, those wind pool customers are the ones whom Big Insurance discarded. Let's look at Big Insurance's impact on one South Mississippi resident, Mr. Rex Chastain, who is retired military.

Chastain had hoped for some insurance relief in 2008, but instead finds his family "insurance poor." Hurricane Katrina forced the Chastains, along with thousands of other South Mississippi residents, into the state wind pool, where residential rates jumped 90 percent in 2006. The wind pool is the insurer of last resort for 36,000 South Mississippians, who must carry a separate private policy to cover fire, theft and liability.
The Chastains' total homeowner insurance bill jumped 147 percent.

Geeze, Louise! How in the living heck are we to rebuild our homes, businesses, and communities if we can't purchase affordable property insurance? This bad news means that our recovery stops. The end. We cannot pass go nor collect $200.

Of course, that would be an aggressive approach to protecting Mississippi's humble people against the Insurance CEOs to whom I fondly refer as two-fisted greedy gutted goons in Gucci suits.

Unfortunately Mississippi's State Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney sounds just like his predecessor, George Dale, whom voters rejected last year for being in the back pocket of Big Insurance. Here's Chaney's reaction to the bad news for Katrina recovery.

"If they quit writing wind for existing customers, that's really going to put more pressure on the economy," said Chaney, who added that he is working to keep private carriers in the six southernmost counties and bring in new business.

How long did it take Chaney to memorize and spit out that George Dale talking point?! How could other communities in any other part of our nation that would be able to thrive if these same financial straight jacket conditions were imposed on their homeowners and developers?

If this were the end of it, today's bad news would be just awful.

But today's news gusts keep picking up speed where Katrina recovery is concerned. In the Mississippi State Senate, Katrina insurance bills may die without vote. Well isn't that just ducky! We're sitting here some 30 months after Katrina blew through with her zealous hurricane force winds and we have a bunch of blow hards in the state senate huffing and puffing a bunch of hot air zealously guarding the status quo.

Down here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the status quo means Katrina families cannot rebuild their homes, businesses, and communities. The status quo means that even the already r-e-a-l-l-y . . . s----l----o----w pace of recovery simply stops. How exasperating!

Add to this madness the ridiculous building codes that FEMA is imposing primarily in one tiny area of the Katrina ravaged-Mississippi Gulf Coast of Bay St. Louis, the hometown of Congressman Gene Taylor. Seems to me that this smells more like political revenge because Taylor is hell-bent on creating affordable home owner's insurance for his constituents and for rest of the 55% of Americans who live within 50 miles of our nation's beautiful coast lines.

“Populations and built environments in coastal watersheds are growing rapidly, with 55 percent of the U.S. population already living within 50 miles of the coast.”
“The Coastal Community Development Partnership”
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

To make this a more toxic recipe for ruining opportunity for recovery, let's remember that Governor Haley Barbour wants to swipe more Katrina funds to build a road for a Toyota plant. If Mr. Barbour likes roads so much, perhaps he should drive himself down here and plop a squat for a few days listening to one after another Mississippian talk about the tremendous hardship of life here some 30 months after Katrina. Housing, insurance preventing house building, insurance preventing business reopening, housing costs, did I mention the insurance crisis?

Last, but not least, in the Katrina rebuilding madness is the latest from FEMA on its formaldehyde-filled trailers.

"FEMA first received complaints about health problems and high formaldehyde levels nearly two years ago," said Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss.
"If FEMA would have taken the complaints seriously from the very beginning, this issue could have been resolved already... They must now act swiftly to find adequate housing for those living in trailers across Mississippi and Louisiana, instead of at the pace they moved when first receiving complaints."

Today's rash of bad news makes it so obvious that Katrina recovery here in South Mississippi is intimately tied to our ability to obtain affordable insurance for our homes and businesses. The solution is now awaiting action in the U.S. Senate.

As you may recall, the U.S. House of Representatives passed overwhelmingly and with bi-partisan support Congressman Gene Taylor's Muliple Peril Insurance Legislation (H.R. 3121). That bill permits homeowners who are eligible for and purchase flood insurance the option to buy wind coverage as well.

As with all bills since Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took the reigns of Speaker of the House, this bill includes a provision to require that the bill's cost pays for itself. This is fiscally responsible and sound.

We now need to contact our two U.S. Senators to ask each to support, to push, to take the lead on this critical legislation so that we can get the post-Katrina recovery moving. Click here to Become a Partner in Insurance Reform!

This is where you will find a phone script you can use. Of course, you will also find a link to the phone numbers for each of your two U.S. Senators. When you are finished, please use the link provided after the phone script to contact all of your friends, family, and colleagues around the nation to ask them to join in our effort to help pass this critical Katrina recovery legislation.

Our phone calls from all over the nation—even our voice mails—can stir up these much needed hurricane force winds of change. This is how we create the resources that those of us inside the Katrina-ravaged region need for that vibrant recovery we desire. Who'd have ever thought that real insurance reform would be the new chocolate and flowers?!

Rep. Taylor Comments on Officials' Findings on Formaldehyde in FEMA Trailers

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:30:00 -0600

FEMA should have addressed concerns in the beginning

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Gene Taylor released a statement today about the recent findings by federal health officials that confirm toxic levels of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers and suggest occupants be moved immediately.

“FEMA first received complaints about health problems and high formaldehyde levels nearly two years ago,” Rep. Taylor said. “If FEMA would have taken the complaints seriously from the very beginning, this issue could have been resolved already. I requested that FEMA and the Center for Disease Control conduct a detailed study a year ago, and the results are just being released today. They must now act swiftly to find adequate housing for those living in trailers across Mississippi and Louisiana, instead of at the pace they moved when first receiving complaints.”

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Taylor Announces No Money in President's Budget for Mandatory Buyouts

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:28:00 -0600

Assistant Secretary states that no funding for buyouts will be available in 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Gene Taylor today announced that there is no money for the mandatory buyout of properties that were either destroyed or damaged in Hurricane Katrina in President Bush’s federal budget request for 2009, which spans from Oct. 1, 2008 to Sept. 30, 2009.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment held a hearing on Feb. 7 on agency budgets and priorities for fiscal year 2009. At the hearing, Rep. Taylor asked Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works John Paul Woodley, Jr. if there is money in the budget request specifically for mandatory buyouts. Woodley responded, “I don’t know of any money in the president’s budget for that purpose.” Woodley also said at the hearing that he would put into writing, upon Rep. Taylor’s request, that there would be no mandatory buyouts in 2009.

The Corps of Engineers’ study of comprehensive improvements for the Mississippi coast was supposed to be presented to Congress by Dec. 31, but it still has not been received. Because of this, no funding has been requested for items in the study, which would include projects such as coastal restoration, barrier islands restoration and flood damage reduction.

Woodley sent Rep. Taylor a letter in January in which he noted that the non-structural alternatives being evaluated by the Corps of Engineers to provide reduction of risk from future storms would be voluntary.

“It is my understanding that a strictly voluntary non-structural plan, including elevation of structures, buyouts and/or relocations, is one of the alternatives being evaluated as part of the study process,” Woodley stated in the letter.

“I am glad to finally get the record straight that there will not be any funding for mandatory buyouts in 2009,” Rep. Taylor said. “I look forward to the release of the Corps of Engineers’ final study for coastal improvements.”

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Gov. Barbour, South Mississippi needs answers

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Thu, 7 Feb 2008 07:17:00 -0600

Editorial
February 7, 2008

Gov. Haley Barbour needs to talk directly to the people of South Mississippi about the status of the recovery process and other issues.

And he should do so soon.

What does he need to talk about?

First: How does he justify the allocation - or reallocation - of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid? The governor has championed pouring money into expanding the port in Gulfport instead of spending more money for housing. He even thinks things are going so well in South Mississippi that some recovery money can be used to build a road in North Mississippi. But many are wary of this diversion of funds. If the governor has the facts and figures to prove that the needs in the coastal counties have been or are being met, then he needs to come here and confront his critics.

Second: The governor should share his thoughts on making insurance coverage more available and affordable. Is he interested in a regional approach? Is he lobbying senators - and the president - for a federal response, such as a national multi-peril policy?

Third: Why is the governor so sold on using the Pascagoula River and the Mississippi Sound to flush out a salt dome at Richton? Many of his constituents are alarmed at the proposal and are stunned that the governor says simply: trust the system.

South Mississippians need to personally hear the governor make his case on these and other matters. And they need to hear from him soon.

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Insurance companies in Florida used loophole in law to bypass required rate savings

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 09:59:00 -0600

BY JULIE PATEL | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Originally published 07:10 a.m., February 6, 2008
Updated 07:10 a.m., February 6, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — It appears some of the state's biggest insurers tried to use loopholes in a law to skirt a requirement that they pass savings from a state-backed financial safety net to homeowners.

That's one of the conclusions drawn Tuesday after two days of Senate hearings on compliance with a law passed last year to quell Florida's property insurance crisis.

Executives from insurance companies testified under oath about why they didn't reduce prices for consumers, as the Legislature demanded last year in exchange for offering insurers cheaper backup storm coverage.

With the annual legislative session starting in March, lawmakers said they could consider fixing loopholes in last year's law.

In one such gap, the law didn't explicitly indicate methods insurers can't use to predict risk and ultimately set insurance policy prices, said Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach.

Insurers such as Allstate Floridian Insurance Co. and Nationwide Insurance Co. of Florida based rate increase requests last year on storm risks over the next five years instead of the customary 100 years. A special state commission approves risk prediction methods, but use of unapproved methods, such as the five-year projection, results in higher insurance rates.

"This is the single most significant issue that we've heard," said Geller, co-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Property Insurance Accountability, formed last month to hold insurers accountable for rate cuts that legislators pledged to the state's homeowners last year. "If we simply resolved that issue, I think we'd resolve half the disputes we're having."

Another issue senators may want to look at during the regular session, Geller said, is whether to clarify a state law enacted in 2006 that allows insurers to earn "reasonable profits."

State insurance regulators have recommended insurance companies use a 3.7 profit margin — not including income earned on investments — to calculate property insurance prices. But executives from companies such as Allstate Floridian, Nationwide and Hartford Insurance Co. of the Midwest testified that they used profit margins of 15 percent or more to calculate rate requests last year. What's more, Hartford officials said they used $1 billion last year to buy back stock. Allstate also has bought back stock in recent years.

The Senate committee might continue its hearings on Feb. 18 or 19 to discuss findings and recommendations such as those outlined by Geller. If there's time before the Feb. 29 deadline for final drafts of new bills for the coming legislative session, the committee might ask rating agencies, risk predicting companies and reinsurers to testify about their relationships with the insurance industry.

This week's hearings are the latest battle in a long feud between state government leaders and the property insurance industry. Last year, legislators expanded the state reinsurance program and expected insurers to pass along the savings by cutting homeowner coverage prices. But many insurers requested rate increases that were rejected by regulators.

One insurer, American Strategic Insurance Corp., managed to reduce rates last year by a statewide average of 20 percent, and senators praised the company during the hearings.

In December, Gov. Charlie Crist threatened to sue the insurance industry, and state Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty last month tried banning Allstate Insurance Co. and nine affiliates from selling new insurance policies statewide until they turn over all the financial documents his office wants as part of an investigation. A state appeals court blocked McCarty and now the two sides are locked in litigation.

State insurance regulators and legislators at the hearings said they thought modeling – or methods used to predict the risks of hurricanes that help set policy prices – had been addressed after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. That's when insurers said they needed computer models using tens of thousands of years of hurricane data to help predict risks in the long term to level out drastic fluctuations in the short term.

Legislators in Florida and several other states approved the models even though rates shot up. But after damaging hurricanes in 2004 and 2005, industry officials started saying they needed to project risks five years out because they believed this is a time of increased hurricane activity, in part because of warming sea surface waters.

State law doesn't explicitly prohibit insurers from using the models, according to testimony at the hearings. Allstate and Florida Farm Bureau General Insurance Co. use the near-term methods to estimate risks that ultimately determine rates.

Insurance executives said the near-term projection helps them better assess risk and is backed by scientists at modeling companies.

State officials said modeling company executives developed the five-year method to meet demand from insurers.

"The short-term model was developed at the behest of the insurance industry," Deputy Insurance Commissioner Belinda Miller said.

Some senators said they think the law passed last year will work as long as regulators continue rejecting proposed rate hikes. Rate requests from Allstate, Hartford and Florida Farm were rejected last year and are pending negotiation or final decisions.

"They can use the models all they want until the cows come home, but (regulators) haven't approved a penny" in situations where they thought insurers were unreasonable, said Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge.

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6 Coast Democrats oppose Barbour road plan

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 07:23:00 -0600

JACKSON -- A roundup of Tuesday's action at the Capitol:

• Citing Hurricane Katrina concerns, six South Mississippi Democrats said in a statement they oppose Gov. Haley Barbour's plan to spend $25 million in Katrina savings for road improvements in north Mississippi.

Since a rules change allowed the state to avoid paying millions to match federal spending on Katrina rebuilding projects, Barbour wants to use about $108 million of $268 million that had been socked away to replenish the "rainy day" fund and to make $25 million in improvements that would benefit a Toyota plant in Lee County.

Sens. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, Debbie Dawkins, D-Pass Christian, Ezell Lee, D-Picayune and Reps. Dirk Dedeaux, D-Sellers, Randall Patterson, D-Biloxi, and Diane Peranich, D-Pass Christian, were listed on the statement.

"Many residents of the areas directly impacted by Katrina still reside in FEMA trailers, insurance remains unaffordable, small businesses are struggling and Hancock County doesn't have a jail," the statement said. "To us, this is simply a matter of priorities and our priority is rebuilding the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We hope that this 'found money' will be used to further our recovery from Katrina."

• Superintendent of Education Hank Bounds would be allowed to hire and fire Department of Education personnel without taking matters to the personnel board under a bill the Senate Education Committee agreed on. The provision, designed to give the department more flexibility to reorganize, would be for a year.

• The Senate Education Committee voted to authorize a mentoring program for young teachers. The program, which would utilize retired or long-serving teachers and pay them up to $1,000 a year, is designed to combat the loss of many of the state's recently hired teachers.

• The committee also approved longevity pay increases of up to $794 a year for teachers who have taught at least 25 years.

• The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would restrict eminent domain from being declared on a parcel for a commercial venture, but the law would still allow governments and utility companies to use eminent domain for roads, utility work and levees and other projects for the public.

• The House Military Affairs Committee approved a tuition waiver for spouses of those serving with the National Guard. Spouses could forgo paying up to 50 percent of their tuition at both four-year and two-year schools.

The bill would also give "tuition stabilization" for up to $4,500 for active duty members of the National Guard. The bill has been referred to the appropriations committee.

• Members of the Legislature will meet this morning at the Capitol to ride to memorial services in Bay St. Louis for Joseph P. "Jody" Compretta Jr., son of House Speaker Pro Tem J.P. Compretta, who represents Hancock County. Compretta, 39, died in an accident at the Endymion parade in New Orleans on Saturday.

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Secrets, Lies And Documents - The Sequel

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 10:10:00 -0600

The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 4, 2008

Even after we agreed to accept more risk in our policies, big insurance not only reneged on their promise to lower rates for Floridians, they continued to increase them.

And while the Office of Insurance Regulation should be applauded for its decision to hold hearings to find why we were lied to, they are also getting a real sample of what lengths insurance companies will endure to fatten their bottom lines at the expense of consumers.

Having battled these entities for over 20 years, I have seen firsthand how they will do anything to avoid exposing upper management tactics that would confirm our fears about an industry that has done everything possible to avoid accountability.

Furthermore, having chaired the American Association for Justice's Bad Faith Group, I also have been witness to the much-sought-after Allstate-McKinsey documents along with similar unfair claims tactics used by carriers as far back as the early 1990s.

In Missouri, Allstate chose to pay a $25,000 a day fine rather than turn over key management documents regarding the tactics and goals of its claims practices.

In Michigan, State Farm was sanctioned for failure to produce over 2,000 McKinsey-related documents when ordered to do so. The landmark case of Campbell vs. State Farm, which began in Utah and made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court over a course of 23 years, uncovered documents detailing a systematic program to underpay legitimate claims.

Yet another regulatory action in South Dakota cost Farmers Insurance Company and its shareholders a $750,000 fine for having a program where cash incentives were used to encourage adjusters to underpay claims.

These tactics of secrecy represent an underlying business strategy to prevent public scrutiny of a highly regulated business that involves the public's trust. They delay and deny with the hope that the other side will simply give up as we become numb to high rates and the broken promise of fast and full payment on legitimate claims. Policyholders, governments and even shareholders suffer as insurance industry's management thumbs its nose at us.

While hearings and commissions will reveal more bad news, special-interest promises remain the biggest blockade to establishing true reform. Until the army insurance lobbyist roaming our capital is removed, along with their influence on the political system, it will remain broken.

It is time for us to enforce honesty and fair play upon an industry, which agreed to be regulated in order to do business in our state, with nothing less than an iron fist.

William F. "Chip" Merlin is managing partner of Merlin Law Group in Tampa.

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AG says State Farm lawsuit based on 'lies, speculation and innuendo'

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 06:35:00 -0600

By HOLBROOK MOHR
Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. -- A lawsuit filed by State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. that accuses Attorney General Jim Hood of using the threat of criminal charges to force settlements in civil lawsuits is based on "lies, speculation, and innuendo," Hood said in court papers.
State Farm sued Hood in September, claiming he violated his part of a January 2007 settlement in which the attorney general's office agreed to end its criminal investigation over the company's handling of Hurricane Katrina claims. A judge ordered Hood to temporarily shut down the probe.

The accusations in court documents have intensified over the past week as both sides prepare for a hearing on Wednesday.

"Before allowing State Farm to use this court as a three ring circus to parade its inflammatory evidentiary rhetoric of innuendo, guilt by association, and smears, there should be some factual basis alleged to support a conclusion of retaliation and/or harassment," Hood said in papers filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Jackson.

Jonathan Freed, a State Farm spokesman told The Associated Press on Friday, that the insurer is ready to "proceed with our case and we're looking forward to airing these issues in court."

Hood asked the court to dissolve the restraining order and allow him to resume his investigation. Hood's 19-page filing came just days after State Farm used some of the strongest language yet in accusing the second-term attorney general of wrongdoing.

The company claimed Hood and wealthy plaintiffs attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, who is facing corruption and contempt charges in other cases, participated in an "extortion conspiracy" by trying to force the company to settle civil litigation with private attorneys.

The court battle heated up when State Farm began urging a judge to allow the company to question Scruggs under oath. Hood has called Scruggs his "confidential informant" and has said Scruggs provided allegedly incriminating information about State Farm.

"General Hood is clearly concerned that his co-conspirator will either tell the truth or invoke the Fifth Amendment on specific questions related to their extortion conspiracy," State Farm said in a motion filed Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills on Friday ordered Scruggs to submit to the questioning by 5 p.m. Monday. Scruggs will likely invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination when questioned because of the pending charges against him.

Scruggs, one of the most influential plaintiffs lawyers in the country, is facing federal charges that he conspired with several associates to bribe a judge in an unrelated dispute over $26.5 million in fees from a mass settlement of Katrina claims. He's facing contempt charges in Alabama for allegedly violating a federal judge's order by giving leaked Katrina assessment documents to Hood rather than returning them to the company from which they were taken.

Scruggs has denied wrongdoing in either case. Scruggs is not a party to the lawsuit State Farm filed against Hood, but the company claims he worked in collusion with Hood.

The January 2007 agreement that State Farm claims Hood violated by resuming a criminal investigation was part of a broader settlement that called for State Farm to reopen and possibly pay thousands of policyholder claims. However, a federal judge refused to sign off the terms of deal and State Farm later entered into another agreement with George Dale, who was then Mississippi's Insurance Commissioner.

In August 2007, State Farm received a new subpoena for records from a grand jury. Less than a month later, the company sued Hood in an effort to stop the grand jury's investigation.

Hood claims he wasn't reopening the same investigation, rather he was probing new claims.

Hood has argued that he never provided "blanket immunity" from future investigations.

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GAO National Flood Insurance Program Report: A View from Outside the Industry

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:38:00 -0600

by Sop811

Insurance Issues Forum

Yesterday we pointed out several glaring omissions and factual inaccuracies in the Reuters drive by reporting on the General Accounting Office NFIP report. Today we see better coverage courtesy of Anita Lee at the Sun Herald. In addition to our analysis, Ms Lee points out some of the other conclusions reached by the GAO on the flaws inherent to the current program design:

The first flaw involves the three wise monkeys and the concept of see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. While that old proverb works well in our personal conduct it is an invitation to disaster when used to manage a federal program:

Read more . . .

Wake Up and Smell the Formaldehyde

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:49:00 -0600

by James Polk
the New American Village

FEMA trailers are in the news again. Turns out they're not fit for human habitation. Problem is we've known it all along.

A scathing article on Salon.com sheds light on the toxic conditions and details the efforts of the United States government to cover it up.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/29/fema_coverup/

Meanwhile, better than two years on, over 30,000 hurricane victims still call FEMA trailers home. Read more . . .

GAO: Flood insurers have 'inherent conflict of interest'

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:42:00 -0600

McClatchy Newspapers
1/30/2008 -

WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office issued a report Wednesday on the National Flood Insurance Program that concluded insurers have "an inherent conflict of interest" in determining flood damage that the federal program must pay and the wind damage covered by private companies.

"I applaud the GAO for confirming that insurance companies have an inherent conflict of interest when they are allowed to determine whether to assign damages to their own wind insurance policies or to the federal flood insurance policy claims," said Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss.

The GAO concluded that the program needs greater transparency and oversight of wind and flood damage decisions.

"The report reinforces my proposal to give homeowners the option to buy wind and flood coverage in the same policy." The House passed Taylor's provision last September but the bill is stalled in the Senate.

"I urge the Senate to pass this legislation in order to stabilize the insurance market in coastal states," Taylor said. "I strongly support GAO's recommendations that insurance companies be required to turn over their wind claims files so that FEMA can verify that the companies applied the same standards to the flood insurance claims as to their own wind claims."

©2008, The Santa Fe New Mexican and MediaSpan

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REP. TAYLOR COMMENTS ON GAO WIND AND FLOOD REPORT

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:19:00 -0600

Findings reinforce importance of multiple peril insurance provision

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Gene Taylor commented today on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s report that greater transparency and oversight is needed for determining the extent of wind and flood damage after a storm.

“I applaud the GAO for confirming that insurance companies have an inherent conflict of interest when they are allowed to determine whether to assign damages to their own wind insurance policies or to the federal flood insurance policy claims,” Rep. Taylor said. “The report reinforces my proposal to give homeowners the option to buy wind and flood coverage in the same policy.”

The multiple peril insurance provision in H.R. 3121, passed by the House of Representatives in September, would allow coastal residents to buy insurance and know that hurricane damage would be covered. It would protect taxpayers by ensuring that more hurricane damage is covered by premiums rather than by disaster assistance programs.

The volatility and uncertainty of the coastal insurance market are the biggest obstacles to recovery on the Gulf Coast. Insurance companies are withdrawing from almost every coastal market, forcing many homeowners into state insurance pools.

“I urge the Senate to pass this legislation in order to stabilize the insurance market in coastal states,” Rep. Taylor said. “I strongly support GAO’s recommendations that insurance companies be required to turn over their wind claims files so that FEMA can verify that the companies applied the same standards to the flood insurance claims as to their own wind claims. I am disappointed, but not surprised, that FEMA opposes that recommendation. FEMA needs to recognize that its oversight responsibility is to protect federal taxpayers, not insurance companies.”

The GAO’s findings include these major points:

· A conflict of interest exists when insurance companies are responsible for determining both the extent of the flood damage that NFIP must pay and the extent of the wind damage that the insurance company itself must pay;

· NFIP cannot determine the accuracy of flood claims payments on properties that were subject to both high winds and flooding, because FEMA does not collect any information on wind claims and does not require companies to explain their procedures for distinguishing between wind and flood losses;

· Property owners with separate homeowners, wind and flood insurance policies cannot know in advance whether all their damage from a hurricane will be covered because of differences in the policy limits; the uncertainty is increased because NFIP cedes control of the damage determination to the insurance company despite a vested economic interest in maximizing the flood claim and minimizing the wind claim;

· Legal disputes between wind and flood coverage have increased because of insurance companies’ anti-concurrent causation clauses that attempt to exclude coverage of wind damage if flooding contributed to the loss.

The Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, H.R. 3121, which passed the House in September, already addresses some of the concerns raised by the GAO report:

The House approved a Taylor amendment that prohibits insurance companies from using anti-concurrent causation language to exclude coverage of wind damage solely because flooding also contributed to the damage.

The House also approved an amendment offered by Rep. Mel Watt that would require insurance companies to report their actual expenses operating the flood program and to undergo an independent audit of their administration of NFIP policies every two years.

The complete GAO report can be found at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0828.pdf.

# # #

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Houston lawmakers blast pace of Katrina, Rita housing

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:20:00 -0600

By RICHARD S. DUNHAM
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Two Houston lawmakers upbraided federal and Texas officials for their slow response to finding replacement housing for victims of hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, called the efforts "a complete failure." Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, went further. "Some heads really should roll for letting this go on and on and on," he said at an investigative hearing held by the House Homeland Security Committee.

Jackson Lee and Green noted that thousands of Texans have been housed for more than three years in trailers laced with the cancer-causing chemical formaldehyde.

"HUD and FEMA are wrapped around this failure," Jackson Lee told state and federal emergency response officials. "The state of Texas has failed, plain and simple."

"The simple question I ask you: Why are people still in trailers in 2008?" Jackson Lee demanded.

"Madam, you are correct," said Nelson Bregón, of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. "There are people still residing in trailers who should not be living in trailers."

During the afternoon-long hearing, there were several examples of federal agencies and Texas officials pointing the finger of blame at somebody else.

HUD's Bregón testified that the housing situation "is FEMA's responsibility." He said HUD is "very concerned" and is "working with the states." He called the situation "a travesty."

A Texas official defended the performance of Gov. Rick Perry, a target of Jackson Lee's ire.

Michael G. Gerber, executive director of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, said federal aid was only a fraction of state costs.

Jackson Lee was not convinced: "People are living in a disaster because of your inaction," she said.

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FEMA slowing Coast building

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:16:00 -0600

Chris Joyner • chris.joyner@jackson.gannett.com • January 30, 2008

BILOXI — Two-and-a-half years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast, less than a fourth of the 10,833 public rebuilding projects are completed.

Many haven't even broken ground.

And local officials are finding it harder to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Long Beach Mayor Billy Skellie spent much of Tuesday in a meeting with FEMA accountants arguing over whether the federal government will help pay overtime costs incurred by his fire and police departments in the days and weeks after the storm.

"They are wanting to deobligate about half of that," he said.

In regular language, Skellie explained FEMA is hedging on paying the city's costs of more than $350,000 because the agency's contract accountants are not satisfied with the time sheets kept by first responders immediately after Katrina hit.

"We were just trying to survive. I mean, my God," Skellie said. "It's these people who worked around the clock pulling bodies out. ... They don't want to pay for any of that because a person's name doesn't appear on a time sheet."

It is a familiar complaint along the Coast, especially among the smaller cities. Recovery is slow because FEMA and its state-level partner, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, spent months arguing with local government officials over what is and is not covered under grants set aside to pay for rebuilding government buildings, roads and infrastructure and paying other public costs.

After more than two years of hearing the complaints, FEMA and MEMA officials Tuesday held a news briefing at their Biloxi headquarters to plead their case.

"There's a lot of misconceptions about this program and a lot of misconceptions about what FEMA and MEMA can and can't do," MEMA Director Mike Womack said.

Recovery is "one team, one fight," Womack said, but there are legal limits to the public assistance grants.

For instance, under the federal rules, a fire station destroyed by Katrina can be rebuilt completely using federal money, as long as it is rebuilt the way it was before the storm using the former building's "footprint." But if a city wants to expand the fire station, relocate it or use the money to improve a fire station across town, then the project has to go through another vetting process and the city may be required to provide some matching funds.

"It's an area that confuses the applicants quite a bit," Womack said.

The process is tougher on smaller communities. When FEMA negotiates payments with the largest cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, those cities bring in-house experts who are dedicated to shepherding projects through the labyrinthine federal process, but smaller cities do not have the money to hire their own advocates.

"Myself, the city clerk and my fire chief," Skellie said. "That's just about it."

Since the storm, about $1.3 billion has been paid out to cover the costs of rebuilding to local governments, school systems and eligible nonprofits.

But as Mississippi approaches its third hurricane season since Katrina, many of the projects have not made it out of the planning stages. In all, 22 percent of Mississippi's 10,833 public projects have been completed.

FEMA Transitional Recovery Office Director Sid Melton said the agency is working to improve the process. Development of an electronic database of ongoing projects is nearly completed, he said. Since the storm, tracking of progress of public assistance projects has been a manual process.

Melton said FEMA is a willing partner with local governments to get them the funds they need and get their projects done.

"Our job is to move the state of Mississippi forward, and if we are not doing that, then we need to get out of the way," he said.

That's just what Skellie would like to see happen. Once he receives bids on a project, Skellie said it takes several months for FEMA to review and approve them before work can begin.

He said he believes it is getting harder to get FEMA to approve projects as the agency pores over worksheets in what he sees as an attempt to reduce how much money his city receives.

"They are watching for thieves, and I understand that," he said. "We haven't asked for anything more than we need, and we still get punched in the nose."

Womack agreed one of the problems with the system is it is adversarial. He said he hopes the Katrina experience will spur Washington to find a new way, but in the meantime, there are rules that have to be followed.

But it's not all the fault of FEMA or MEMA, he said. Internal squabbling among local government officials has slowed the rebuilding, too, he said.

"There are disagreements in local governments on how to rebuild," he said. "These are very difficult decisions for local communities."

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Study Claims FEMA Ignored Toxic Findings

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:13:00 -0600

By EILEEN SULLIVAN
January 28, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency manipulated scientific research in order to play down the danger posed by formaldehyde in trailers issued to hurricane victims, according to an investigation by congressional Democrats released Monday.

FEMA "ignored, hid and manipulated government research on the potential impact of long-term exposure to formaldehyde" on Katrina and Rita victims now living in FEMA trailers, Democrats on a House Science and Technology subcommittee wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. FEMA is part of the Homeland Security Department.

In a separate letter, lawmakers said the federal health agency that provided guidance to FEMA was "complicit in giving FEMA precisely what they wanted."

Victims living in FEMA trailers have complained of health problems related to formaldehyde, but initial FEMA tests revealed the air quality in the trailers was safe if those trailers were properly ventilated. Formaldehyde is a common preservative found in building materials used in manufactured homes. It can cause respiratory problems and has been classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and as a probable carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

FEMA said the health agency's Feb. 1, 2007 advice didn't address long-term health effects, but rather concerned ways to avoid toxic exposure to formaldehyde. "FEMA did not suppress or inappropriately influence any report," said agency spokesman James McIntyre.

The lawmakers are questioning the integrity of research done by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and said they don't trust FEMA to conduct an independent investigation into the toxicity of the formaldehyde in trailers.

The investigation, led by Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., found the health agency ignored research from one of its own experts, Christopher De Rosa.

Because the health opinion was completed without appropriate oversight, the results could be misleading, De Rosa wrote in a February 27, 2007 letter to a FEMA attorney that was obtained by the subcommittee.

"Any level of exposure to formaldehyde may pose a cancer risk, regardless of duration," De Rosa wrote. "Failure to communicate this issue is possibly misleading and a threat to public health."

In its initial round of testing, FEMA took samples from unoccupied trailers that had been aired out for days and compared them with federal standards for short-term exposure, according to the lawmakers. FEMA officials instructed scientists at the health agency to leave out details about long-term exposure in its consultation.

"Honest scientific studies don't start with the conclusion, and then work backwards from there," Miller said in statement.

FEMA is currently testing 500 of the 40,000 trailers, but the lawmakers said they have no confidence in the new testing and sampling procedures.

The test results are due to come out in February and FEMA plans to issue a final report in May.

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Officials: FEMA maps may wipe Bay off map

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:10:00 -0600

Much of city now in hazard zone

By J.R. WELSH
jrwelsh@sunherald.com

BAY ST. LOUIS -- A David and Goliath contest is emerging between this small bayfront city and the federal government, with local officials vowing to fight imposition of new FEMA flood-advisory standards they say will hamper future growth and perhaps slay it altogether.

City officials say FEMA flood maps that were unveiled recently place large parts of Bay St. Louis in zones whose designations will require impossible heights for new construction, and will make the cost of flood insurance beyond the reach of many homeowners.

The city already had flood maps that had been revised in the 1980s. But the new maps slated to replace them are more stringent and could impose far different circumstances. The new flood elevations were crafted by federal officials following Hurricane Katrina.

"We have to fight this at all costs. I personally think it will alter the history of Bay St. Louis," said City Councilman Doug Seal.

The maps place large portions of the city in zones designated as "special flood hazard areas" that have an annual 1 percent chance of experiencing a 100-year flood.

Along the bay front, FEMA maps show advisory base flood elevations ranging from 20 to 30 feet. In many areas off the open coast, they run as high as 27 feet. Flood elevations indicate the height above mean high tide at which construction can begin.

Mayor Eddie Favre illustrated the extent of the problem recently when local officials had a get-acquainted meeting with new U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, appointed to replace retired Sen. Trent Lott.

"The fourth block of Main Street - the middle of Bay St. Louis - is a hazard flood zone now," Favre told Wicker. Under FEMA's new advisory base flood elevations, homes will have to be constructed so high in the air that "instead of worrying about flood, we're worried about wind now," he said.

Councilman Bobby Compretta, who is also a Realtor, said he considers the flood elevations excessive, and fears they will squelch growth in the foreseeable future. "In my opinion, people are not going to rebuild," he said.

Bay St. Louis intends to appeal FEMA's flood maps, and has agreed to hire an engineering firm to assist in the effort. The city also got outside support this week when the Mississippi Municipal League held a conference in Jackson.

That group's executive committee passed a resolution asking that FEMA extend the time from three to six months for the city to review the flood-elevation maps. The resolution will now go to the Mississippi Legislature for support.

City Councilman Jim Thriffiley lobbied at the conference for support from other cities, and said state District 46 Sen. David Baria has agreed to enter the resolution into the record in the Senate.

"Hopefully, we can take the endorsement from the Legislature and use it in our fight," said Thriffiley, who called the new flood elevations "mega-bad. That's the only way I can describe it."

Seal said the FEMA elevations would essentially sink hopes for the city's newly incorporated area, which runs west to Highway 603 and north to Interstate 10. City officials had hoped to develop a sweeping retail and business corridor there to accommodate growth, generate new tax revenues and lessen dependence on income from casinos.

As things now stand, the new flood maps are throwing a long shadow over those plans.

"If we can't develop 603 and the corners of I-10 as a business corridor, it would have a devastating effect on Bay St. Louis," Seal said.

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Tell the networks to make Gulf Coast rebuilding the top topic in the presidential debates

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 05:51:00 -0600

Returning, recovering and rebuilding after the nation’s worst disaster has been left to poor – mostly Black – residents and volunteers, abandoned by their government. Here, Latonja Tucker paints her church in New Orleans. In November, Americans must elect a president who will implement the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, which will create 100,000 jobs for residents and evacuees to rebuild their communities. Photo: Mike DuBose, UMNS

By Jeffrey Buchanan - San Franscisco Bay View, January 25, 2008

CNN, MSNBC and Fox News and the other networks that have hosted this primary season's 30 presidential debates have yet to ask each candidate how they plan to help rebuild communities in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. Though media attention for their struggles has faded more than two years after the 2005 hurricanes and levee failures, many of these communities have not been able to rebuild their schools, police stations, roads and other critical infrastructure as hundreds of thousands of residents remain displaced. The result is an American human rights crisis certainly worthy of being addressed as Americans choose their next president.

Through 14 Republican debates, no moderator has asked any Republican presidential candidates a single question about rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Moderators of the 16 Democratic events have not done much better, directing only a fraction of their debates, less than 1 percent, to Gulf Coast recovery.

In an interview with the Sun News before the Jan. 21 South Carolina debate, Rep. James Clyburn, the state's most senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, which sponsored the debate, even named rebuilding infrastructure, specifically in the Gulf Coast, as a top issue he hoped to hear addressed in the debate. Still the topic was never touched on.

Top candidates from both parties have characterized the government's response to Hurricane Katrina as a failure during their respective debates. Still only once this primary season, at PBS's Democratic debate at Howard University, did the debate questioners ask each candidate a question related to Gulf Coast recovery. NPR's Michele Norris asked whether each candidate would support a federal law guaranteeing a human right to return home after Hurricane Katrina, based on international law. Though candidates hinted at their rebuilding plans, they were not pressed to explain the steps they would take to create the economic and social conditions necessary for residents to realize their rights.

Gulf Coast residents fear that important questions about the future of their communities and the hundreds of thousands of their friends and families who are still displaced will continue to go unasked and unanswered this primary season.

Things are not looking much better for the general election debates.

Despite letters of support from a bi-partisan list of seven presidential candidates and supportive editorials from USA Today, the New York Times, Time Magazine and the Washington Post, New Orleans' application to host one of four scheduled general election Presidential debates was recently denied. With New Orleans successfully hosting such large-scale events in 2008 as the Sugar Bowl and the NCAA Championship Game and set to host the NBA All-Star Game, city leaders found the snub shocking. Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm, the group which led the application effort with a consortium of local universities including Dillard, Loyola, Tulane and Xavier, called it, "a case of politics trumping the clear moral choice."

‘A defining moment in American history'

Debates are a time to make candidates take a stand on the most important issues facing American voters. National polling data indicates that Gulf Coast rebuilding is still important to Americans nationwide, not just those living in the region.

John Zogby, one of the top minds in the polling industry, wrote recently in Campaigns and Elections Magazine that polling data on domestic issues facing candidates in the 2008 elections indicates, "Katrina, over the long haul, will prove to be more of a defining moment in American history than the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." He went on to note that after witnessing the failed federal response to Gulf Coast recovery, American voters "hunger nationwide for a new model for the federal government."

Zogby found that Americans wanted a leader who would could unite the nation and marshal the necessary resources to rebuild after a disaster. He wrote that Americans wanted federal leadership with the flexibility to work with local leaders, including local governments, faith and community groups, and solve problems.

Still recovering - more than two years later

In terms of physical devastation, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the levee breakdown far surpasses any disaster in America's history. They caused more damage than our three largest disasters combined: the Sept. 11 attacks, Hurricane Andrew and the Northridge earthquake. The human face of the disaster can be seen in the hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents who remain unable to return home.

Housing shortages threaten communities across the Gulf Coast. Thousands of families are about to be kicked out of FEMA trailers, which the federal government recently determined contain levels of toxins so strong that they have advised their employees not to enter the structures.

Federal programs like FEMA public assistance have proven slow and inflexible for rebuilding vital community infrastructure. USA Today recently reported FEMA had spent less than one fourth of the $4.5 billion federal dollars available for rebuilding critical community infrastructure across the region.

Critics claim current federal policy often leaves construction projects addressing long-term needs ineligible for federal aid. In New Orleans, this policy has resulted in infrastructure deficiencies with severe social and economic consequences.

With schools closed, students must travel long distances and some 300 students in New Orleans during the 2006-07 academic year were unable to even enroll.

Restricted public transit and battered roads limit access to work and services. Scarce childcare facilities limit options for working parents. Crime rates have risen while police headquarters operate out of FEMA trailers. Death rates rise as hospitals operate at diminished capacity.

Louisiana alone - not including damage in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas - has reported over $20 billion in public infrastructure damage due to the hurricanes and levee breaks, leaving significant unfunded needs.

Levee construction remains under-funded, and preventable erosion continues to destroy nature's flood protection, the wetlands, threatening returning residents. These issues impact the pace of recovery and ultimately the rights of residents to return to their communities to live with safety and dignity.

A handful of candidates this campaign season have traveled to the Gulf Coast. A few have even posted portions of their rebuilding plans on their websites but not all voters and Gulf Coast residents have access to this information. For residents who are still waiting on the federal government to fulfill its promises, questions remain about the presidential candidates' commitment to the region.

A new model for Gulf recovery

Recently, Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Charlie Melancon, D-La., and Gene Taylor, D-Miss., introduced a new model for Gulf Coast recovery in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 4048, the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act. The policy was developed with the help of Gulf Coast residents, human rights groups and the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, a college campus-based advocacy group. Utilizing a human rights-based framework, the legislation hopes to empower the region's greatest assets, the disaster's survivors, with the resources they need to lead.

Through funding infrastructure projects employing local and displaced workers to rebuild schools, police and fire stations, transportation, hospitals and flood protection and restoring the wetlands, the legislation aims to help heal the wounds left since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the levee breaks and allow residents to return to their neighborhood with safety and dignity. The bill gives resident and community leaders a greater voice in how their neighborhoods are rebuilt and works directly with community organizations to reach the goal of creating 100,000 living wage jobs and training opportunities for residents and displaced people primarily in the building trades.

The plan would create more opportunities for small and minority businesses while pumping more funds into the local economy and building the infrastructure and the trained workforce necessary for sustainable economic development. The legislation aims to address the region's human rights crisis through helping the displaced realize their right to return and participate in rebuilding their communities and providing economic opportunity to working families.

Stephen Bradberry, state head organizer with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in Louisiana, believes this bold plan will require the support of the next president to become a reality.

"The current president made a whole list of promises to residents about rebuilding the Gulf Coast, but the job is not done. The moderators of the presidential debates need to ask the next president whether they plan to right the situation," says Bradberry. "We need to put the candidates on record, "Do you support the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act to rebuild stronger communities across the region hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita?"

Bring the Gulf Coast to the debate

Gulf Coast residents, ACORN members, students and supporters - like the online organizing group Color of Change and the RFK Center for Human Rights - launched an effort to bring Gulf Coast rebuilding back into national focus by first urging hosts of the presidential debates to get a straight answer from the candidates on Gulf Coast rebuilding. Together they hope to give the region a voice to influence the discussion, utilizing online advocacy tools.

"If the debate is not coming to the Gulf Coast, then we need to bring the Gulf to the debate," said Bradberry, winner of the prestigious RFK Human Rights Award in 2005.
The effort, aptly named Bring the Gulf Coast to the Debate, began by targeting Facebook, ABC and WMUR, co-hosts of the Jan. 5 Republican and Democratic New Hampshire primary debates. Supporters urged ABC and WMUR reporters and producers to ask the candidates about the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act. Many contacted ABC's World News Tonight host and debate moderator, Charles Gibson, through his recently opened account on the social networking site Facebook.com.

You can join the efforts' Facebook campaign.

Now supporters are gearing up for the Republican and Democratic California debates on Jan. 30 and 31 hosted by CNN, Politico and the Los Angeles Times. They will be the last debates before the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primaries.

Supporters can visit ColorofChange.com to learn how to urge the moderators of the Republican and Democratic California debates to stand in solidarity with Gulf Coast residents and ask the candidates about the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act using tools on Politico.com. The website also shows supporters how to send a letter to CNN and Los Angeles Times reporters and editorial staff urging them to ask the candidates about this important Gulf Coast rebuilding policy.

Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, a San Jose State University professor who founded the 50-campus strong Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, noted that the bill is sponsored by a Californian in Congress, Rep. Lofgren, and additionally is supported by resolutions in both the California State Assembly and California Democratic Party.

"With so many Californians behind the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act, there is no better time than these debates to ask the candidates if as president they will enact this critical plan to rebuild the Gulf Coast," says Dr. Lipton.

Though the Gulf Coast will not host a presidential debate, residents and their national supporters still have hope that the region's crisis can be brought back into the national debate this election season.

Currently questions on the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act for the Democratic and Republican candidates rank No. 1 and No. 2 most popular respectively on Politico.com.

"This is a unique opportunity to move these media organizations to finally ask the questions the people of the Gulf Coast and California and really all Americans need to hear answered," said Chris Hauck, a San Jose State University student and Gulf Coast Civic Works Project organizer.

Visit Color of Change to learn how to vote for the Gulf Coast questions and visit Solving Poverty to find out more about supporting the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act.

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Progressive Values in Action: MS Gulf Coast Volunteer Slideshow

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:21:00 -0600

by Ana Maria

From my New York progressive friends who came down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to volunteer their winter holiday time to help building four homes for Katrina families here in Bay St. Louis and Waveland, Mississippi, located in Hancock County--the county that Hurricane Katrina hit the worst comes this slide show of their time here in the rain and muck, cold and humidity. This slide show has FABULOUS music playing, so turn up your speakers and be ready to dance around!!

Sure, we have our troubles down here. Great music and dancing is always a great salve on our souls. I believe it will be yours as well. These are photos of my many new friends who remain in my heart for their extreme generosity and true compassion for our plight.

May each of them be blessed many times over throughout their lives. They came here to help because they saw the need and put their faith, their beliefs, their values in action. This is so much more than we've seen out of a White House that talks about faith and whose acts betray their words.

© 2008 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Editorial: Presidential candidates should help solve Florida property-insurance crisis

AMintheMorning@gmail.com (Ana Maria Rosato) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:01:00 -0600

EDITORIAL
January 25, 2008

If the candidates for president are smart, they'll keep promising relief to homeowners who've taken a beating on property insurance.

If the voters are smarter, they won't settle for amorphous pledges but demand specific action from candidates that can lower premiums and keep companies from ruthlessly dropping them.

The surest way for the candidates to show they'll take that action is to say they'll sign two bills that actually have passed the House, and that could make it to the next president's desk if the Senate also signs off on them.

The Klein-Mahoney bill would allow states like Florida with a government-sponsored insurance fund to voluntarily bundle their catastrophe risk. Backed by private markets, the fund could issue loans to states, reduce the insurance industry's risk and usher in more reasonably-priced policies for homeowners. State reforms largely have failed to do that.

The Gene Taylor bill would allow homeowners who get flood insurance through the federal government to also purchase wind policies from Washington. That's needed because companies too often after hurricanes have determined that flooding, not wind, damaged homes. That finding allows them to pocket premiums and make Washington disproportionately pay claims.

Together, the bills would bring fairness and stability to states' property-insurance markets. Together, they're the furthest Washington has come in years toward making insurers act more responsibly.

Any candidate serious about providing relief should get behind them. Hillary Clinton is co-sponsoring Klein-Mahoney in the Senate. Rudolph Giuliani says he'd sign Klein-Mahoney. John Edwards likes Klein-Mahoney. John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee offer qualified support for either a regional or national catastrophe fund. But none, Barack Obama included, has told us he or she would sign both bills. Homeowners should demand nothing less of them.

Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

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