Bill Text: FL S1298 | 2014 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Disaster Savings Account Act

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2014-05-02 - Died in Messages [S1298 Detail]

Download: Florida-2014-S1298-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2014                             CS for SM 1298
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and
       Domestic Security; and Senator Brandes
       
       
       
       
       583-02831-14                                          20141298c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to pass the Disaster Savings Accounts
    4         Act to encourage the mitigation of property damage and
    5         costs before a natural disaster strikes.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, Florida carries more hurricane risk than all of
    8  its neighboring “hurricane alley” states combined, and
    9         WHEREAS, Florida, which represented less than 6 percent of
   10  the national population in 2011, accounts for about 40 percent
   11  of the total number of policies issued by the National Flood
   12  Insurance Program, and
   13         WHEREAS, Florida, with its unique hurricane and flood
   14  risks, ranks among the most expensive in the nation for
   15  homeowners insurance, and
   16         WHEREAS, mitigation programs and improvements produce safer
   17  structures and reduce the impact of natural disasters, thereby
   18  reducing property damage, loss of life, insurance rates, and
   19  other costs associated with disasters, and
   20         WHEREAS, research shows that every dollar invested in
   21  mitigation results in 4 to 7 times that amount in savings, and
   22         WHEREAS, disaster mitigation projects produce jobs in the
   23  manufacturing and construction sectors, and
   24         WHEREAS, tax-preferred savings accounts encourage
   25  homeowners to fortify their homes, mitigate against future
   26  natural disasters, and invest in their own safety, and
   27         WHEREAS, the Disaster Savings Accounts Act of 2014,
   28  proposed in H.R. 3989 and S. 1991, is a market-based solution to
   29  empower homeowners against natural disaster risks, and
   30         WHEREAS, the Disaster Savings Accounts Act of 2014 was
   31  introduced to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and to
   32  allow individuals a deduction for amounts contributed to
   33  disaster savings accounts to help defray the cost of preparing
   34  their homes to better withstand a disaster, NOW, THEREFORE,
   35  
   36  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   37  
   38         That the Congress of the United States is urged to pass the
   39  Disaster Savings Accounts (DSA) Act of 2014, sponsored by United
   40  State Representative Dennis Ross and United States Senator Jim
   41  Inhofe, which allows individuals a deduction for amounts that
   42  are contributed to disaster savings accounts and used for
   43  disaster mitigation expenses.
   44         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   45  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   46  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   47  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   48  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.