"There is a productive private industry, and we believe these proposals, although made from somebody with his heart in the right place, are simply likely to destroy a productive industry," he said.

He added that the legislation would "impose a significant burden on taxpayers around the country" and undo reforms that states are undertaking to improve the underwriting environment for insurers.

"We feel it is important to take action now to protect lives and property that are at risk for natural catastrophe, making property more resilient to catastrophes like hurricanes and opposing policies that will essentially provide incentives to people to locate in risky places," said Ed Hopkins, Sierra Club's director of environmental quality.

Mr. Hopkins said there is a better way of providing for protection through programs to help homeowners strengthen their homes against hurricanes "and reduce the underlying risk."

Mr. Lehrer said that based on the defeat of legislation to make wind risk a part of the National Flood Insurance Program, and lukewarm support by the Obama administration for expanding the federal government's exposure to catastrophe, he felt confident Rep. Klein's bill would be defeated.

"I think there is a lot of opposition to this," said Mr. Hopkins. "And we will be working hard to make sure that the concept of wind insurance advances during this Congress."

According to the group's Web site, the coalition is supported by Allianz of America, the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, Chubb, Liberty Mutual Group, the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, the Reinsurance Association of America, Swiss Re, USAA and Zurich.

Mr. Lehrer said there is a large, diverse group ranging from environmental to consumer to public policy and taxpayer advocacy groups involved in defeating this and similar legislation. Additional information is available at www.smartersafer.org.

While introduction of Rep. Klein's measure prompted a generally positive reaction from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, even the IIABA said it would seek changes in the bill's reinsurance component.

H.R. 2555 is similar to legislation that passed the House in 2007, but was rejected by the Senate in 2008 as an amendment to legislation that would reform and reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program.

One problem is that it establishes a guarantee program that would authorize the Treasury Department to backstop debt issued by eligible states to assist in their financial recovery from natural catastrophes.

Another difficulty is a provision to allow the Treasury Department to write reinsurance contracts covering catastrophic-level events, as well as establish a grant program to develop, enhance and maintain programs that prevent and mitigate losses from natural catastrophes.

All these conflict with a recent Obama administration budget document, which says the administration hopes to revisit the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program to see if its high budget impact can be reduced.

Rep. Klein maintained his bill has "broad bipartisan support," with more than 40 co-sponsors from 21 states across the country.

He said that "prospects for passage are extremely favorable, buoyed by the innovative approach and strong support of President Obama, who co-sponsored the legislation as a member of the U.S. Senate two years ago."

The bill would create the National Catastrophe Risk Consortium, which states could join for purposes of transferring catastrophic risk. The transfer would be achieved through issuance of risk-linked securities or through reinsurance contracts.

The consortium, under the bill, would serve as a conduit issuer of cat bonds on behalf of participating states, but would not take actual possession of any bond proceeds, coupon payments or underlying risk, according to a summary of the bill's provisions.

In its comments, the IIABA said it supports the goals of each of the programs that would be established under the bill, but also encourages Congress to consider making changes to the reinsurance title of the legislation in particular.

"While the Big I appreciates Congress' consideration of a national reinsurance backstop for natural disaster insurance, we feel that such a backstop would better encourage private market participation in problematic markets if it allowed private market participation instead of just state catastrophe funds," said Charles E. Symington Jr., senior vice president of government affairs.

"We will continue to advocate that Congress consider a solution utilizing the private markets instead of merely state catastrophe funds," he said.