Governor of Louisiana Discusses Risk with RMS

On January 30, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and senior advisers visited the RMS headquarters in California to find out more about catastrophe modeling and to discuss ways in which risk can be better managed in Louisiana. Governor Blanco met with senior RMS staff, including Dr. Robert Muir-Wood, chief research officer, and Mitch Sattler, vice president of public policy.

During the meeting, the Governor expressed her desire to encourage insurers and reinsurers to operate in the Louisana and to offer appropriate and affordable coverage for those who work and live in the State. She outlined efforts that were being made in Louisiana to mitigate risk from hurricanes, including reform of the Levee Boards that are responsible for overseeing the maintenance of flood defenses and the implementation of revised building codes to make property more resistant to damage.

RMS presented an overview of the science upon which its current hurricane models are based, and then provided recommendations on how RMS could help Louisiana create an attractive environment for insurers and reinsurers by reducing risk, including:

	Communicating effectively with reinsures and insurers about the measures being undertaken to mitigate risk
	Exploring schemes to encourage property owners to invest in mitigation measures, such as by offering appropriate financial incentives (perhaps learning from equivalent schemes in Florida and elsewhere)
	Providing detailed information about planned mitigation measures, and allowing RMS to analyze how they would affect the magnitude and distribution of future risk in New Orleans
	Making the management of risk central to future policy in Louisiana, employing the methodologies that catastrophe models can offer

Following the successful meeting, Governor Blanco issued a media release, including the following statement:

"This healthy dialogue with all sectors of the insurance industry is critical to our efforts on behalf of Louisiana's citizens. We are using this valuable input to develop a comprehensive solution, one that will ultimately provide confidence among insurers and affordable protection for our people."

Click here to read the Governor’s full media release: http://www.gov.state.la.us/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=2556

RMS intends to continue its dialogue with the Governor and her officials, as well as other key parties within the State of Louisiana.