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NAMIC Praises NCOIL for Passage of Building Code, Disaster Mitigation Resolution

INDIANAPOLIS (July 24, 2006) - An official of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) today commended the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) for adopting a resolution in support of statewide building codes and ordinances as well as other disaster mitigation and preparedness initiatives.

Senior Director of State Advocacy Neil Alldredge said the action taken by NCOIL at its just concluded summer national meeting in Boston is an important step in getting policymakers to focus more attention on natural disasters.

"State lawmakers should take more of a leadership role on this very important issue, and this NCOIL resolution should help to create that dialogue in state capitols," Alldredge said.

The three-part resolution, introduced by Florida state Senator Steven Geller, calls for every state to adopt a building code for statewide use that would apply to "the design, construction, code enforcement, erection, alteration, modification, and maintenance of public and private buildings." The resolution also says the building code should be "organized to be consistent and easy to use, be applied, administered and enforced uniformly and consistently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and allow flexibility to meet minimum requirements in a manner that is affordable, does not inhibit competition and promotes innovation and new technologies.

The NCOIL resolution also advocates that local, state and the federal government incorporate appropriate disaster mitigation and emergency preparedness as "part of their effort to protect Americans from natural catastrophes and support research and development of mitigation measures and land use and development planning."

The resolution concludes by encouraging each municipality, county, and/or state to "convene a group of experts to work with public policymakers to promote the value of mitigation and preparedness to homeowners and to identify research and development that will assist state and local governments in protecting their communities from natural catastrophes."

Alldredge said the NCOIL resolution follows closely a statement of principles on natural disasters that the NAMIC Board of Directors adopted last month.

"The NAMIC statement notes that the development of strong building codes as well as responsible land-use planning have been shown to greatly reduce the level of property damage and human suffering caused by natural disasters," Alldredge said. "NAMIC looks forward to working with NCOIL as it promotes its resolution with state lawmakers and other public officials."

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For further information, contact
David Reddick
(317) 875-5250 Tel
(317) 879-8408 Fax
dreddick@namic.org