Insurers Cite Florida, Urge Stronger Building Codes
Property/casualty insurers are backing a measure in Congress to incentivize states to adopt stronger building codes.
The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) told members of a House panel that a measure they are considering would help to save lives and reduce the need for federal disaster aid.
“One effective step Congress should immediately take to alleviate the financial pressures associated with natural disasters is to encourage mitigation measures, specifically in the form of building stronger, safer home sand businesses,” said Rod Matthews, vice president for State Farm Insurance Cos., a NAMIC member company, before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management.
Matthews appeared on behalf of the BuildStrong Coalition, which NAMIC established to bring together advocates for stronger, safer buildings. In addition to insurers, the coalition includes the American Institute of Architects, International Code Council, Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, National Fire Protection Association, National Institute of Building Sciences and Associated Builders and Contractors.
BuildStrong supports H.R. 2069, the Safe Building Codes Incentive Act, which would encourage states to adopt and enforce stronger codes by providing greater post-disaster grant funding to qualifying states.
According to Matthews, if H.R. 2069 were in effect today as many as 20 states would qualify for the increased funding.
“Over time qualifying states such as Florida have learned the costly lessons of building code effectiveness,” Matthews said. “Unfortunately, other states have still refused to act by adopting these minimum standards in building safety, thereby putting their citizens at higher risk and increasing the liability of all U.S. taxpayers.”
A 2005 study by the National Institute of Building Sciences’ Multihazard Mitigation Council found that every dollar spent on mitigation saves four dollars in losses.