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About Us

SAFEGUARDING AMERICA'S COMMUNITIES AND THEIR FLOODPLAINS

Read how SmarterSafer is Reforming Natural Disaster Policy.


SmarterSafer.org is a national coalition that is made up of a diverse chorus of voices united in favor of environmentally responsible, fiscally sound approaches to natural catastrophe policy that promote public safety. The coalition believes that the Federal government has a role in encouraging and helping homeowners to undertake mitigation efforts to safeguard their homes against hurricanes. At the same time, the coalition opposes proposals being considered in Congress that would create moral hazards by providing direct or indirect subsidies for coastal homeowners' insurance policies, thereby giving people incentives to build homes in hurricane-prone, environmentally sensitive areas.

Coalition members strongly support measures pending in Congress that would encourage and assist homeowners in taking mitigation steps to protect their homes against hurricanes. These include bills to create a new hurricane mitigation tax credit, as well as a new loan program that would provide low-interest loans to homeowners undertaking risk mitigation.

In Spring, 2008, coalition members and allied groups sent a letter to all 100 members of the United States Senate urging them to oppose any amendments to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) reauthorization bill that would add wind coverage or create new Federal natural catastrophe loans to states, insurance or reinsurance programs. Consumer Federation of America, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense, Friends of the Earth, National Wildlife Federation, Republicans for Environmental Protection, Association of State Floodplain Managers, Americans for Prosperity, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, Competitive Enterprise Institute, FreedomWorks, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, Reinsurance Association of America, and the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents all signed the letter to the Senate. The Senate subsequently defeated an amendment to add wind coverage to the NFIP by a vote of 74-19. An amendment to create a Federal backstop reinsurance program was withdrawn.

Read our Letter to Secretaries Donovan and Napolitano.

Read our Letter to the United States Senate.

Read our statement of principles.

Seven major environmental groups sent a letter opposing both adding wind to NFIP and the creation of a new federal "nat cat" backstop program.
Read the Letter

Supporters