DISASTER RELIEF OVERHAUL EYED

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan House task force co-chaired by Rep. Bill Emerson of Cape Girardeau has recommended an overhaul of the federal government's role in natural disaster relief that would put less strain on the federal budget while assisting future disaster victims.

Central to the recommendations was a call to individuals as well as state and local government to take more responsibility in mitigating the cost of disasters.

Unveiled on Wednesday to a room packed with news media and fire service organizations, the 55 specific recommendations include:

-- Creation of a private, nationally based all-hazard insurance program to make comprehensive insurance available to businesses and homeowners who meet building codes, fire and safety standards and who make other efforts to minimize the risk of damage in a flood, tornado or other disaster.

-- Encourage states to establish disaster response funds by increasing the federal share of disaster costs for states that maintain funds.

-- Establish a $2 billion national rainy-day fund to pay for disaster preparedness and response efforts, financed by a 1 percent fee on property and casualty insurance premiums. Once a $2 billion funding level is achieved, the fee should be reduced or eliminated until the fund needs to be replenished again.

-- Enact a tax deduction for homeowners and businesses who retrofit structures to make them less prone to damage from natural disasters.

-- Require states to have FEMA-approved disaster preparedness and mitigation plans as a condition of federal disaster assistance.

-- Establish a consistent and fixed federal share of disaster costs to treat all regions of the country fairly and to clarify how much assistance they can expect.

"The bottom line is that emergency preparedness is a must and it is going to take all of us working together to ultimately accomplish it," Emerson said. "What we have here is a blueprint for change."The task force, appointed by the House leadership in February after the Northbridge earthquake in Southern California, was charged with addressing congressional concerns that disaster relief was costing American taxpayers too much money. Since 1989, nine natural disasters have caused more than $1 billion in damages each, including $12 billion in the Great Flood of 1993. The Northbridge earthquake cost $25 billion.

Rep. Dick Durbin, D.-Ill., the other task force co-chairman, said federal responsibility for disaster relief had grown from 5 percent in 1950 to more than 90 percent today, with the federal government's expanded role discouraging many individuals, communities and state governments from taking action to prepare for disaster.

Emerson, who described the recommendations as the kind of responsible and inventive government that voters called for in the fall elections, is expected to introduce legislation with Durbin to implement the recommendations in the 104th Congress.Although Emerson said it was impossible to estimate the federal savings if the recommendations become law, Jack Weber, executive director of the Natural Disaster Council, a group founded by insurers in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew struck Florida, said savings could be as high as 40 percent of typical postdisaster expenditures."This bill fits well in the philosophy of the new Congress," Weber said. "It fosters public-private partnerships to reduce disaster losses, promotes individual responsibility and cuts down on some of the red tape and waste that typically result when the federal government steps in after disasters."