Three Years Later

THREE YEARS LATER After the devastation of Katrina, Gulf-state lawmakers are optimistic but sobered by the work that remains. BY GARRY BOULARD in Mississippi, more than 200 people died and property damages exceeded $125 billion. ohn Alario is an optimist. SENATOR In Alabama, Katrina killed two dozen people Surrounded by large swaths of the New JOHN ALARIO and caused more than $50 billion in property Orleans metro area that remain aban- damages. LOUISIANA doned, garbage-strewn and scarred by The devastation left by the storm pre- Jboarded up and crumbling houses, the Loui- sented lawmakers in the three states with siana senator is convinced life has gotten sig- the challenge of rebuilding. The task was nificantly better in the three years since Hur- ties. Everything had to be rebuilt.” made easier in Alabama because it suffered ricane Katrina. New Orleans just missed another direct the least damage and more efficient in Mis- “You have to think about where we were in hit from a hurricane in late summer. sissippi because of an early decision to rally the immediate aftermath of that storm,” says Despite that lucky break, Louisiana, Mis- around a core set of recovery goals. Loui- Alario, whose Westwego district, just across sissippi and Alabama still have much work siana lawmakers faced extensive damage to the Mississippi River from New Orleans, was to do before they can put the devastation of the state’s infrastructure and an immediate largely under water in Katrina’s wake. Katrina—and, to a lesser extent, Rita and population loss of roughly half a million “Essentially we were confronted with the Wilma—behind them. Although lawmak- people. challenge of rebuilding New Orleans— ers across these three Gulf states are upbeat Not all the changes wrought by the hurri- and a large part of the state of Louisiana— about the progress that has been made— canes along the Gulf coast are visible. The practically from the ground up,” he says. everything from casinos to new homes to population in New Orleans and areas of Mis- “Katrina’s impact on our infrastructure was strengthened levees in the New Orleans sissippi and Alabama may never return to nearly complete—roads, drainage, sewer area—they acknowledge the recovery is far pre-storm levels as residents deal with prob- and water systems and even school buildings from complete. lems from insurance to employment. There were virtually wiped out in some communi- In all, Louisiana suffered nearly $100 bil- also is the matter of what might have been. lion in damages from a storm that also killed Lawmakers have put initiatives and projects Garry Boulard is a free-lance writer in New Mexico who is more than 1,000 people. It was the worst nat- on the back burner as they’ve grappled with a regular contributor to State Legislatures. ural disaster in the state’s history. Next door, the core issues of recovery. 22 STATE LEGISLATURES DECEMBER 2008 Habitat for Humanity volunteers work on a new home in New Orleans. “We were lucky in that we came together right after the storm and took a look at the things that needed to be done, and then agreed to do them,” says Baker. Baker credits Mississippi’s Legislature for supporting the efforts of Governor Haley Bar- bour. He administered a series of grants and low-interest loans to hundreds of damaged and destroyed businesses and homes through the federal Gulf Opportunity Zone program. “Basically, we just got out of his way,” says Baker. “We didn’t try to usurp his authority. We monitored what he was doing and had regular discussions about things. As long as the money was coming in, and you could see rebuilding going on almost immediately after the storm, we just decided as a body not to meddle.” But Ray Scurfield, director of the Katrina Recovery Center at the University of Southern Mississippi, says Mississippi lawmakers were, in reality, much more extensively involved in the rebuilding of the state after Katrina. “When they realized they needed to do something about the casinos that operated on PHOTO COURTESY OF HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL boats and barges along the Gulf Coast, they did so immediately,” says Scurfield. “As a legislative body they responded, I think, very efficiently and have acted on a number of REPRESENTATIVE REPRESENTATIVE other issues in the same way.” NEIL ABRAMSON MARK BAKER Less than a month after the main force of LOUISIANA MISSISSIPPI Katrina pushed past the Mississippi Gulf Coast, almost entirely wiping out the towns of Pass Christian, Waveland and Bay St. Louis, legislators changed the state’s gam- PROGRESS UNDENIABLE remains elusive. Yet progress, maintains ing laws to allow casinos to operate on land “It is almost impossible to describe how Tulane University President Scott Cowan, within 800 feet of the shore. much had been taken away by Katrina in has undeniably taken place. That move, notes Scurfield, helped sal- New Orleans, and then Hurricane Rita, which “We are really getting some traction on vage a multi-billion dollar industry that had came right after it and really hit hard in the recovery,” Cowan says. He points to the been providing the state about $500,000 in southern part of the state,” says Louisiana Army Corps of Engineers’ repairs to the revenue daily. Most of the major casinos Representative Neil Abramson. flood-protection infrastructure of New vowed to rebuild, ushering in a construction With a district that includes parts of wealthy Orleans and to a comprehensive overhaul of boom that contributed to a significant boost uptown New Orleans that suffered sporadic the state’s health care system since Katrina. in employment. flooding, he says that “at some point it seemed “I am cautiously optimistic that the pace of like the only thing left standing after these recovery and the content of recovery, if you GRAPPLING WITH INSURANCE storms was the resiliency of our people. There will, is encouraging.” Mississippi lawmakers also passed uni- was just a general feeling that, even though In Mississippi, a similar sense of sub- form building code legislation designed to everyone felt overwhelmed by what had hap- dued optimism prevails. “Progress has been eliminate substandard construction. In 2007, pened, their goal was still to rebuild and return made here,” says Mississippi Representative they increased funding for the state’s Wind- to a pre-Katrina life as quickly as possible.” Mark Baker. His district in the center of the storm Underwriting Association, popularly Three years later in many parts of New state hosted thousands of residents who fled known as the insurance wind pool, which Orleans and southern Louisiana that goal coastal areas in the weeks after Katrina. provides insurance for at-risk properties DECEMBER 2008 STATE LEGISLATURES 23 Ike Aftermath to Dominate Texas Session by at least 20 percent, the insurance industry has characterized the legislation as counterpro- stimates of the damage left by Hurricane Ike, three years to the month after Katrina, ductive. Ealready are topping the $31-billion mark. “Since that legislation in Florida, insurers The anticipated expense of rising homeowners’ insurance costs, in addition to the even- have been denied rate increases that they tual price tag for repairing the public infrastructure destroyed by Ike, makes it almost cer- have applied for, they have been threatened, tain Texas will be facing a budget shortfall. targeted and made the victims of lawsuits by “We’re going to be looking at a deficit budget the state,” says Robert Hartwig, president of in the next session and will probably see a lot the Insurance Information Institute. of fighting over what needs to be funded first,” REPRESENTATIVE “The net result,” he says, “is that private says Representative Wayne Christian. insurers have to charge a greater risk-appro- WAYNE CHRISTIAN Ike moved in a northeasterly direction, smash- priate premium. If they can’t do that, they ing onto the shores of Galveston on Sept. 13, TEXAS basically just reduce their exposure to the before heading east of Dallas as it gradually lost state. That’s Economics 101.” strength. Caught in the center of the storm was This spring Alabama lawmakers went a dif- the Galveston Bay home of Representative John ferent route. They allowed what are known Davis. as “captive insurance companies”—closely “It was completely leveled,” says Davis, who held insurance companies that might be expects to see legislation addressing the future REPRESENTATIVE organized around a particular city or condo- installation of power lines, particularly in new JOHN DAVIS minium development—to do business along construction, along the Gulf Coast. the Gulf Coast. These companies will “cre- “When you go through something like Ike and TEXAS ate competition in a part of the state where a see how vulnerable poles and power lines are,” lot of insurers have been cutting back,” says says Davis, “it just makes sense to put that kind Alabama’s Baker. of infrastructure underground where it can’t be destroyed by a future hurricane. In Louisiana, lawmakers last year voted to “This may be something that will have to be mandated by the state with all new construc- disband the state’s Insurance Rating Com- tion,” continues Davis. “Whether that actually happens or not, I know it is a topic that is mission, which had the power to determine going to come up in our next legislative session.” any insurer rate change of more than 10 per- An equally certain topic for legislative consideration will be a proposal to prohibit residen- cent. tial construction along the Gulf Coast beachfront most vulnerable to storms such as Ike. Supporters of the commission worried that “It’s going to be a huge fight,” says Christian, who lost a house on Crystal Beach on the rates in an already pressurized marketplace Bolivar Peninsular in Galveston County.

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